12.1. Strategy - Your business strategy

Your guide to success

"I haven't got time to sort out my priorites" - that's the cry of so many owner-managers submerged by the day-to-day demands of running a business.

This is a special Directors' Briefing to help the ultra-busy entrepreneur stand back for a moment from immediate problems and opportunities. It identifies the key issues for owners and managers of small and medium-sized entreprises and points to the specific Directors' Briefing covering that topic. In just four pages, each briefing gives you expert advice on how to run and develop your business. Directors' Briefing covers more than 150 topics.

The title of the relevant Directors' Briefing is in bold type followed by the code number that every briefing is given - for example, those on finance have the codes FI 1, FI 2, and so on, and can be viewed by clicking on FINANCE from VIEW DIRECTORS' BRIEFING.

Where are you going?

Every management team should know which direction it is taking the business in and how it is going to get there. This is the purpose of the business plan.

This briefing outlines the key issues to consider when putting together a 'typical' business plan. Depending on the scope of your plan, you may need to omit or combine certain sections.

The briefing covers:

• The reasons for a business plan.
• The required emphasis for a plan.
• The structure of a plan.
• The content of a plan.

No quick fix

Few people are in a position to sit back and watch the profits roll in. Creating and increasing profitability depends on doing a hundred little things better than the competition.

If you are lucky, a single change could provide an immediate boost to your profitability. More often, you will need to put the right building blocks in place to provide the framework for gradual, but continuous, improvements.

This briefing outlines:

• The best opportunities to increase your profitability directly.
• How to create a framework for increasing profitability.

Built to last

Hundreds of everyday actions affect the performance of your business, whether you are negotiating a sale, recruiting a new employee or complaining to a supplier. Much of the working day is spent reacting to circumstances, making small decisions that have a limited, short-term impact.

In contrast, creating a valuable business is about taking strategic decisions that have a lasting effect. Unsurprisingly, this is easier said than done. But for many directors, particularly those who own a share of the business, it must be the ultimate aim.

This briefing outlines:

• How growth and security contribute to a valuable business.
• The major opportunities for creating and increasing value.
• How to protect the value of your business.

As the owner-manager of a small or medium enterprise, your own financial affairs are likely to be closely intertwined with the way you run your business.

You should think about how the business will affect your own finances from the moment you start up and continue to keep this in mind throughout its lifecycle.

This briefing outlines how you can manage both the investment you put into the company and the income, profits and other benefits you and your family get from it.

The briefing covers:

• Choosing the business structure which is most financially advantageous to you
• Financing the business in a tax-effective way
• Extracting profits and making investments
• Exits and inheritance