As recently reported in BRW (17 Feb 05) Peter Galvin, of the graduate school of business at Curtin University, has said: "The business plan is dead and if it isn't, it should be. A group of people were asked to predict the price of oil in two years' time. They all got it wrong. What makes us think we can predict the future especially when everything is changing so quickly?"
Further backing Peter Galvin is Kosmas Smyrnios of RMIT University. Smryrnios who researches fast-growth companies, including the BRW Fast 100, said in the same article: "The BRW 100 entrepreneurs on average reinvent their businesses every nine months. Their focus is on innovation and change. If they did a traditional SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) business plan, it would not be recognisable from one year to the next."
And the program director at Melbourne Business School at the Mt Eliza Centre, Peter Dulmanis, said: "I pick up those small business cookbooks that tell you how to do a business plan and I want to puke... Those business plans are out-of-date the minute they are produced."
It is not just academics who are calling it a day for business planning. The national leader of entrepreneurial growth markets at Ernst & Young, Bill Delves, stated: "You used to start a business and plan to leave it to the grandkids. Now entrepreneurs know they have a narrow window of opportunity so it changes the focus on timing. They want to get in and out quickly." And Greg Hayes, from the accounting firm Hayes Knight, said that business owners "... say they need one because someone says they should or the government is paying them a subsidy to do one. But the market is changing so fast that for most businesses a five-year plan is not sustainable."
Alan Springell of Centrique believes not: "To date, Business Planning has been practically the only tool available. However, it should be viewed as one tool of many. It is a longer term strategic tool. It is ideal for those with little or no business experience to use to come to grips with the overwhelming nature of business. Unfortunately, the pace of business is becoming faster and short term tactical solutions are needed now, more than ever. That has been the short coming of Business Planning, it breaks down in the short term tactical environment."
"Action Planning from Centrique has been developed to target precisely this short term tactical area. It is comprehensive, yet simple to use, and it allows the owner manager to validate their business strategies in as little as a day."
Action Planning from Centrique is the first of its kind in the world, and a patented invention developed by Centrique. It provides an efficient means of measuring the impact of business strategies and business change.
Essentially Action Planning provides guidance as to whether a business strategy is viable when incorporated into the other strategies and operations of the organisation.
The features of Action Planning include a step by step progression in the development of an organisation’s financial budget; staffing budget and reports; powerful graphical visualisation aids in determining the viability of various business strategy considerations; and the ability to print a full management plan incorporating all facets of the organisation.
Those who are drawn to the incredible power and versatility of Action Planning from Centrique include:
Further information on Action Planning from Centrique is available at http://www.centrique.com.au or by contacting Alan Springell on (02) 9687 0782 and Greg Farmilo on (02) 9630 7066.
Action Planning from Centrique | what do you wish to achieve.