Strategic Planning Tools: Gantt Charts, SWOT, Balanced Scorecard, Ansoff Matrix
Gantt Chart
Objective: To design a strategic plan project using the Gantt chart to achieve the objectives of each operating area. It’s a visual project management tool that is used to plan, schedule, and track tasks and activities over time. It provides a timeline view of a project, illustrating the start and end dates of each task or activity. Some of its benefits:
- Optimized for project planning
- Allows for timeline visualization
- Activity & task dependencies
- Improve resource management
- Allows to track progress
- Serves as a communications tool
When will the task start? How long will it take? Can I start other tasks at the same time? Can I start another task in the middle? Do I need to wait for one task to end before starting another one? Are any tasks dependent on each other? What happens if I don’t finish one task? Are strategies completely dependent on each other?
Strategy
According to Harry Igor Ansoff, a strategy is defined as a coordinated and integrated action plan designed to achieve a specific set of objectives or goals. Ansoff’s concept of strategy emphasizes the importance of aligning resources, capabilities, and activities of the organization systematically and decisively.
- Scope: Refers to the set of products and the market where they are sold in the current economic activity of the company.
- Growth Vector: The possible combinations between products and current or new markets in which the company can continue development to increase its market.
- Competitive Advantage: The characteristics that differentiate the company from the competition, such as cost reduction, innovation, reputation, or any other recognized difference, through which it can defend and improve its competitive position.
- Synergic Effect: The expansive effect that is the product of an adequate combination of the elements of the strategy (or with the actions already existing in the company), in a way that results in the whole being greater than the sum of the parts by collaborating and working efficiently.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT is a strategic planning tool to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in a business.
Factors
Internal and external elements that can have an impact on a company’s success.
- Internal Factors: Those that the organization has control over.
- External Factors: Those which the organization has little or no control over.
- Helpful Factors: Those that assist in the company’s success.
- Harmful Factors: Those that impede or block the company’s success.
- Strengths are internal and useful. They are factors that support an opportunity or overcome a threat to give you an advantage. For example: a solid balance sheet, good credit rating, good cash flow, technological and production advantages (machines, equipment), talented, dedicated, and well-trained employees.
- Weaknesses are internal and harmful. Weaknesses are factors in a business that make an advantage unavailable to opportunities and make the business vulnerable to a threat. For example: high indebtedness ratios, old or outdated technology, bad customer service, brand recognition, or reputation.
- Opportunities are external factors that you have no control over but that are useful. For example: bankrupt competitors, new social trends and technological innovation, some government legislations.
- Threats are external factors over which you have no control and are detrimental to the company. For example: competitive pressure from other businesses, changes in consumer behavior, economic recession, or market instability.
Balanced Scorecard
You will identify the balanced scorecard technique by Ken Blanchard and its elements to create evaluations of results that will allow you to propose improved strategic plans.
What is it? It is a strategy performance management tool. It can be used to monitor the execution of activities, their control, and also to monitor the consequences derived from these actions. This technique turns the vision of any organization into an action.
- Financial Perspective: This perspective focuses on traditional financial metrics such as revenue, profitability, return on investment (ROI), and cost management. The financial perspective reflects the ultimate goals of the organization and ensures that strategies align with financial success.
- Customer Perspective: This perspective focuses on customer-related metrics and measures, such as customer satisfaction, customer retention, and market share. Understanding and meeting customer needs and expectations is essential for long-term success.
- Internal Process Perspective: This perspective examines the internal processes and operations that directly impact the organization’s ability to deliver value to customers and achieve financial objectives. It includes measures related to process efficiency, quality, and innovation.
- Learning and Growth: This perspective emphasizes the organization’s ability to learn, grow, and innovate. Includes measures related to employee training and development, organizational culture, and technological advances.
Ansoff Matrix
The Ansoff Matrix has four key points: market penetration, product development, market development, and diversification.
- Market Penetration: Keep what you already do, pay more attention to increasing sales and consumers from the same segment.
- Product Development: Create new products or services that your current customers need, want, or could buy.
- Market Development: New markets know your product, for example, an age range that you did not contemplate before or even different countries.
- Diversification: Offer new products or services to unexplored market segments.
What is the Synergistic Effect?
The expansive effect that is the product of an adequate combination of the elements of the strategy (or with the actions already existing in the company), in a way that results in the whole being greater than the sum of the parts by collaborating and working efficiently.
What is the Growth Vector (Ansoff Matrix)?
The possible combinations between current or new products and markets on which the company can continue development to increase its market share.
What is Competitive Advantage?
The characteristics that make the company different than the competition, such as reduced costs, innovation, reputation, or any other recognized differences, through which they can defend and improve their competitive position.
What is the Scope of a strategy?
It refers to the set of products and the market where they are sold in the company’s current economic activity.
According to Ansoff, what is a Strategy?
A coordinated plan of different actions carefully designed to achieve a specific set of objectives or goals.