Strategic Planning for Small Business

This report discusses the importance of strategic planning for small businesses and highlights competitive strategies proposed by Michael Porter. It also covers the selection of the right strategy, value proposition, and balanced scorecard. The report concludes by giving insights on strategic initiatives for implementing focus group strategy and achieving strategic goals.

0STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SMALL BUSINESS
Strategic Planning for Small Business
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
Competitive Strategies.............................................................................................................2
Selection of Strategy................................................................................................................4
Value Proposition....................................................................................................................5
Balanced Scorecard.................................................................................................................5
Strategic Initiatives for implementing focus group strategy....................................................7
Strategic goals of the initiatives...............................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Reference.......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
The concept of strategic planning simply encompasses the process of arranging and
organizing the business procedures of a firm in a systematic manner and under a set period of
time. It helps an organization to achieve the business goals and the small firms can compete with
the market giants as well supports Burns (2016). In order to build an individual strategic
planning regarding how the organization can move ahead and how can they win the customer
preference in a short period, the company at first set the business objective and their
organizational goal. The goal must be clear to each of the employees. The next step is to have a
strategy plan for each goal. The action plan must follow the strategy implementation. Lastly, the
organization must keep in view that the strategy plan is being executed properly in each level of
the organization. The aim of this report is to highlight how the Wigram Borneo Restaurant must
develop their business strategy and how these strategies should be implemented in their business.
The report concludes by giving a proper overview of the entire topic.
Discussion
Competitive Strategies
Competitive strategies are necessary to gain competitive advantage in the existing
market dominated by the marketing giants. According to Dibrell, Craig & Neubaum (2014),
those organizations which do not seem to be flourishing greatly, must have been suffering from
the problem of lack of competitive advantage. Until the competitive edge or advantage is
realized, the competitive strategies cannot be built. An organization must build its competitive
strategies in order to get distinguished among all the rival companies. The small business or the
start- up companies get highly benefitted by the competitive strategies. The competitive
strategies proposed by Michael Porter, considered to be the management guru are differentiation,
cost leadership and focus strategy (Dodgson,2018). These are the cornerstones for any business.
The competitive strategies are necessary for an organization to sustain and survive in the
industry. The cost leadership is the strategy of being the lowest cost producer in the market.
Differentiation on the other hand is by which strategy the conventional customer belief in the
uniqueness of a product is exploited by introducing and innovative products. The focus strategy
concentrates on some particular segments in the market.

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Advantages Disadvantages
Cost Leadership The cost –friendly nature of
the products decreases the
market entry barriers that the
restaurant faced initially. The
threat of substitutes becomes
lower since the firm is not
firm is not vulnerable. The
power of the buyers also
reduces as they cannot drive
the prices down further. The
organization becomes flexible
to handle hikes in prices. The
organization enjoys profits
even in the periods when the
rivals face extreme price
competition.
The cost –friendly nature of
the organization demands
huge capital investment in
order to make the products
cheaper. The product design
or marketing issues might be
ignored due to cost concerns.
The competitors can
benchmark their cost-
friendly strategy and copy it.
Differentiation The entry into the market
becomes easier for the small
firms by adopting the
differentiation strategy
because the uniqueness in the
products can increase the
popularity of the restaurant
(Elmes & Barry,2017). The
organization can avail
customer loyalty due to their
different approach towards
the customers. Since the
The new entrants can bring
more exclusive product range
which can allure the
customers more. It is true at
the customers initially get
driven by the uniqueness of
the product but after some
times, inevitably they become
price concerned. The concern
of whether the customers will
understand the unique feature
of the products and accept it

4STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SMALL BUSINESS
customers do not find any
alternative which can beat the
uniqueness of the
organization, they stick to the
organization for a long time.
or thy will simply overlook it.
Huge expenses are associated
with differentiation because
the uniqueness is supposed to
be actually unique with extra
features and competencies.
Focus strategy The focus on the niche
segments of the market is
more secure and a small
business firm can easily
adjust with this strategy. It
does not require much
investment and only some
tricks can win the game. The
focus can be on vegetarians ,
vegans or community based .
The competitors can relocate
and come under the target
segment with higher
resources. The segment
requirements can be less
distinct from the main
market.
Selection of Strategy
Although there are so many strategies that helps to compete with the rivals in the market
and gain the competitive advantage, an organization must apply any one strategy. The risks and
the opportunities go hand in hand, but an organization must develop their efficiency to manage
those risks and get the best out of the strategies as per the view of Grant (2016). The focus group
strategy is frequently used by the small business because it is the most cost –efficient strategy
among the three. The cost –leadership strategy requires greater investment, so does the
differentiation strategy. The focus group strategy has relatively less conceptual complications.
The Wigram Borneo Restaurant can easily deal with the competitors by introducing customized
products according to the preferences of the customers following the market segmentation (Read
et al.,2016). The restaurant can find out the needs of a particular segment of customers and
promote the niche products. It will help the restaurant to attract major mass of customers and in
this way the threats of competitors can be reduced.

5STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SMALL BUSINESS
Value Proposition
Value proposition is the marketing statement that a company applies to say in short why
the customers should prefer that company. It includes their serving process and clearly states
how much they value their customers and how they act to meet the specific needs of different
customers. The restaurant must construct their value proposition and convey it their target
customers using focus group strategy. First of all, the firm needs to know how they are going to
position themselves in the market. It is not exactly the mission statement because a mission
statement talks about what the company wishes to offer the customers in coming days whereas a
value proposition describes the unique features of the company which are different from other
companies and why the customers should choose them. In the case of restaurant Wigram Borneo
Restaurant might focus on the appetizers, beer and wine collections. It can also focus on the
ambience, interior decoration or fast customer service features.
It must be kept in mind that whatever the restaurant is focusing on, it should be the best
one in the entire market otherwise it will not grab the attention. In the case of focusing on the
appetizers, the restaurant must ensure that they have an exclusive range of dishes in their menu
for all kinds of customers. The table service must be pleasant and fast as nobody prefers delay in
food service. However, the value proposition must not be limited in only the food section. A
restaurant can also create its value proposition by offering music concert every weekend
focusing on the music lovers segment in the market.
Balanced Scorecard
Financial Perspective
 They should
have customer credit
procedures
 They need to
pay all the taxes on
time
 They should
prepare the monthly

6STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SMALL BUSINESS
budget at the
beginning of every
month
 They must
have an inventory
gross profit
requirement
 They need to
maintain good cash
flow management
Customer perspective
 They must
have established
customer returns and
refunds
 They must
have online customer
accessibility
 They must
have a strong and
integral customer
management
 They must
have ensured
customer sales
processes
Internal Process
Perspective
 They should
establish perpetual
system
 They should
maintain minimal
stock processing
errors
 They must
have integrated stock
management
 They should
follow up on the
purchase orders
Learning and Growth
Perspective
 They should

7STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SMALL BUSINESS
have membership of
relevant groups
 They should
continuously develop
product knowledge
 They must
establish standard
training procedures
Strategic Initiatives for implementing focus group strategy
In order to do better business, the restaurant must know the preferences of the customers
first. It is a part of digital marketing strategy. The customers can be known more by emails,
customer feedbacks, listings, building fond relationships and also by generating loyal customers.
The loyal customers are the most important people for a business, especially for a small business,
according to Hunt (2015). The local neighborhood people must be listed first for observation.
Their communities, which countries they belong from, how many of them are vegetarians, their
financial status, lifestyles, purchase decision can be observed via campaigns, conducting food
festivals, promo code application on restaurant coupons which are to be distributed among the
customers.
The customers should be attracted and invited in food campaigns by offering special
discounts on the food items. In order to know the customer types, their likes and dislikes by
conducting a short survey with questionnaires in a playful manner. It will enhance the restaurant’
image un the eyes if the customers and promote them the make the customer segmentation easily
and subsequently they will feel ease regarding implementing the focus group strategy (Phillips &
Moutinho,2014). The questionnaire must include questions asking the customers to put their
opinions on certain aspects such as their interior design opinions, food recipe modification,
customer service improvement and others. The quantitative and qualitative feedback will help
the restaurant to incorporate improvement in their products and services. Social media is another
easy way to segment the customers (Scarborough,2016). Their feedbacks are a good reflector of

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their preferences, behaviors, attitudes and cultures. The restaurant can mold their products and
services evaluating the customer feedbacks and target their customers. However, interacting with
the customers face- to face is always a better option.
Strategic goals of the initiatives
The specific goals of conducting the customer surveys is not only the end profit of the
organization. The primary goal must be to serve best whatever they are serving. It does not
matter how much revenues the firm earns at the end of the year, they can easily win the hearts of
the customers by sticking to their customer preference and customer satisfaction strategies
(Karadag,2015). The primary goal of the customer survey is to know the customers in a better
way, to build relationships with the customers in order to provide them the exact service they
want and it the exact way in which they want it. The data collected by the two initiatives the
restaurant will assess the customers and design their product and services according to that
(Grayson & Hodges,2017). The restaurant will come to know their drawbacks, their areas on
which they will have to work and also know they key factors that attract the customers more. The
motif behind the initiatives are simple. Hence, the three goals are tracking and acknowledging
customer opinions to improve customer services, identify different service delivery modes and
identify the best one among them and persuading the employees to work efficiently on specific
gaps.
Specific Strategic Goals
Goals Tasks and subtasks People Responsible Timeline
tracking and
acknowledging
customer opinions
After knowing the
customer opinions,
the restaurant must
act on the same. The
members of the
restaurant must sit for
a discussion on the
customer feedbacks
The team must be
aligned to the action
plan and the
objectives behind all
the actions. The
higher executives and
the people
management
Although the
implementation
process will continue
throughout the year,
the task fixing and
task divisions will be
completed within the
first 15 days.

9STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SMALL BUSINESS
and resolve how they
can be implemented
into their business.
The process must go
part by part and take
the consent each
member in the firm.
Another task will be
to gather resources
and equipment
according to the
feedbacks.
department of the
restaurant must do
the needful. The head
chef must be made
aware regarding the
food related opinion
of the customers so
that he changes bring
change in the food
quality. A group of
employees must be
assigned to a group of
employees who can
look into the interior
issues and bring
change Another
group will observe
the customers service
department to ensure
that strategic change
has been
implemented .
identify different
service delivery
modes
The first task after
knowing different
modes of service
delivery is to focus
on meeting the
customer
expectations, keeping
promises, treating
The entire task of
recruiting suitable
employees who
actually talented and
enthusiastic rests will
rest upon the
shoulders of the
management.
Since the recruitment
has been done before,
the restaurant must
focus after the
customer feedbacks
on the people
management, people
evaluation, reviewing

10STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SMALL BUSINESS
people fairly and
improving trust
(Jones et al.,2014). In
order to achieve these
objectives, the first
task will be
reorganizing the
staffs who are the
backbone of an
organization. Active,
agile, staffs will serve
the best in meeting
the customer needs
and follow different
service delivery
modes.
Starting with the
process of selecting,
organization,
evaluation of talent
and ability everything
are to be conducted
by the HR
department of the
restaurant.
their suitability and
way of working
within the next 15
days.
persuading the
employees to work
efficiently on specific
gaps.
The first task is to
find out why an
employee is
underperforming. The
underperformance
can be the resulted by
lack of proper
training. The
restaurant must train
the employees then, if
not trained yet. The
organizational goals
must be kept clear to
the employees. The
The HR department
of the organization
must look into the
matter and plan for a
specific training
session for the
employees.
The training session
must start after 25
days of the survey
when other aspects
are resolved. The
training must
continue for 30 days (
each day 2 hours )

11STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SMALL BUSINESS
efficient employees
of found to be
slowing due to lack
of motivation , they
must be motivated by
financial or non-
financial incentives.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that strategic planning is
important for every organization to experience better outcomes. The small firms like Wigram
Borneo Restaurant must also develop a business strategy in order to sustain in the highly
competitive market. The smaller firms must keep in mind that they are new in the market and
cannot beat the dominating companies all of a sudden but they can adopt some measures and
attract the customers more than the incumbents. In this regard the present report has dealt with a
complete business plan for a small restaurant. All the aspects such as the focus group strategy, its
implementation initiatives, action plans, balanced scorecard have been covered with details. It
will support the restaurant to frame their strategic planning.

12STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SMALL BUSINESS
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