Federation University Strategic Enterprise Planning Reflection Report

This report is a reflective analysis of a strategic enterprise planning assignment, delving into the intricacies of developing a business plan for Moon Light Media, a web hosting and IT consultancy firm. The student explores the challenges encountered during the planning process, including market research, competition analysis, and resource constraints. It highlights the advantages of strategic planning, such as providing direction and proactive management, while also acknowledging the limitations and potential risks. The report discusses conflicting stakeholder priorities, data access issues, and the complexities of decision-making in uncertain environments. Furthermore, it outlines skills gained, like data collection, stakeholder management, and the ability to adapt to change, concluding with reflections on how the student would approach a similar task in the future.

Running head: STRATEGIC ENTERPRISE PLANNING 1
Strategic enterprise planning
Institution
Student name
Student id
Date

Strategic enterprise planning 2
Executive summary
Professionals must portray competency in their line of career. Learning is meaningful but
applying the knowledge obtained is more important. Entrepreneurship is a no exception case as
far as the above statements are concerned. As far as investment is concerned, bringing together
the factors of production and paying for their cost is not all. It is critical to set clear and strategic
goals of the desired position of the organization in the future. This report is a reflection of
strategic business planning.
Table of Contents

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Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Challenges I experienced in developing the strategic plan..........................................................................3
Advantages of strategic business planning..................................................................................................3
Disadvantages of strategic business planning.............................................................................................4
Limitations of business planning.................................................................................................................4
Conflicting priorities and expectations of key stakeholders........................................................................5
Managing group inputs and outputs...........................................................................................................6
Issues relating to access to key/core data...................................................................................................6
Issues and challenges of making decisions in the world of uncertainty......................................................7
Skills created through involvement in the exercise.....................................................................................7
What I would do differently given a similar task in future...........................................................................7
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8
References...................................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
You will agree with me that developing a strategic business plan is a challenging task.
Developing a strategic plan involves the evaluation of numerous planning theories and applying
them in the enterprise. In developing Moon Light Media (a web hosting and information
technology consultancy firm) strategic plan, I began with critical evaluation and analysis of the
objectives and the primary goals of the enterprise establishment. Here I only considered the
future desired state of the enterprise Nickols, (2016). Strategic business planning comes between
the current state of affairs and the desired future state hence developing the mechanism of
mapping the two.
Developing Moon Light Media strategic plan gave me a lot of experience in the
entrepreneurship requirement. I realized that developing a robust business plan calls for in-depth
knowledge and insight on the organization and the management. You have to know the owners
of the business are and understand their capacity to run the business.
I also realized that knowing the capital source for the business is critical for budgeting
hence plays a significant impact on the planning and operations of the company. It is also used in
financial projections of the organization.
Challenges I experienced in developing the strategic plan
You have not been in a perplexing situation as long as strategic planning in business is
concerned until research kicks off. I thought I only had to consider the future financial status of
the organization but found things on the ground are different. I had to conduct comprehensive
research on the market, competition, government, among other aspects which were challenging
to predict Sax, & Andersen, (2018).

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Having conducted quality research on the strategies is not a success in the entire plan. I
was shocked to learn that the plan may be cut short due to a lack of effective leadership and
attention. Implementing the plan also requires stable and effective communication between the
parties involved; poor communication is a signal to failure. I also realized strategy plan
development requires resources like any other project, and insufficient resources are a challenge
to the success of the plan Johnson, (2016). The last challenge I came across the project is the
resistance to change by the individuals who should be in the frontline of the strategy
implementation.
Advantages of strategic business planning
In the course of the project, I learned that planning is crucial to business sustainability.
Many organizations realize they have suffered a loss when their financial status goes low.
Having a strategic plan in the business will help the management to be proactive rather than
being reactive to the causes of losses in the business Meidl, (2018). The plan also gives the
organization a sense of direction since the goals and the means to achieve them are well known.
Disadvantages of strategic business planning
To my realization, developing and implementing a sound business strategy is
advantageous. However, it also subjects the organization to risk of incompetence in the market.
The plan is a potential risk and threat like any other that could affect the business.
Implementing the strategic plan in the organization is kind dictating how things should flow in
the organization. Unfortunately, the market is not static, and things can completely change
overnight outdoing hence competing out your business. The fixed plan also hamstrings

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innovation, and innovation can indeed result in exponential business performance Sen, Bingol, &
Vayvay,(2017).
Limitations of business planning
Thinking of strategic business planning to be a straight one direction flow of processes is
wrong. Strategy development and implementation are always limited by several factors beyond
the 'developers' capacity. These include a lack of sufficient knowledge about the organization,
employees' training, and experience as well as skills and abilities. Financial limitations also
common hinder research and implementation of the plan. Fear of developing risky objectives by
the management limits the willingness and capability to develop a strategic plan. Some business
units in organizations are separated yet interdependent Popkova, Abramov, Ermolina, & Gandin,
(2015). As far as development is, the plan is on board. This limits the development of the
strategic plan due to poor and inconsistent coordination.
According to the experience I obtained from the strategy development plan I conducted
days before, the limitations discussed above are similar to organizations with similar features.
They are, however, very different in organizations with various features; hence, I am confident to
say it entirely depends on the organization at hand. If the organization has splinted departments,
suffer financial wellbeing, and the management has a fear of unknown will suffer similar
limitation and vice versa.
Conflicting priorities and expectations of key stakeholders
In the strategy development plan, I participated in, a quick reflection on business
ownership, rights, responsibilities, and power of the crossed my mind. I could not avoid coming

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across a business under partnership in my new career. The owners of a business in a partnership
are known as stakeholders Zhang, Chen, & Luo,(2018). The stakeholders' powers,
responsibilities, and duties are determined by the number of shares each stakeholder has or the
mutual agreement constituted in their memorandum of association.
It is sad to see people differ and contrast, but this is the obedience to the natural law that
we are all different in thinking and all other capacities. Stakeholders are no exception, and
developing a strategic plan for a business where the stakeholder differs in expectations and
priorities is one of the hardest tasks in this career. The planner is left without in dilemma on
whose ideas to follow. As one stakeholder prioritizes a higher number of vehicles, another is
obsessed with a quest for land, and the large floor area cover.
Managing group inputs and outputs
I bet you will agree with me the challenge of dealing with people of equal powers
obsessed with different priorities is tormenting. To deal with these people, I have to use the
stakeholders' matrix below.

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The opinions and expectations of the most potent stakeholders must be satisfied
Chofreha, Gonib, Malikc, Khanc, & Klemeša,(2019). On the other hand, the interests of others
must be kept informed depending on their states of power and organization ownership.
Issues relating to access to key/core data
Data collected about the organization is the guiding light to efficient strategic planning. I
was pleased to know that you can develop a strategic plan of a remote organization when
supplied with the correct information on the organization.
It is, however, challenging to collect these data. The process begins with the
determination of the organization's readiness, development of dedicated team and schedules,
actual data collection, and lastly conducting a review on the collected data. The information
collected on the organization is classified, as shown in the pyramid below.

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The information is collected from personal level vision until that of the organization is made up.
Issues and challenges of making decisions in the world of uncertainty
To my understanding, decision making is meant to create a road map between
initialization, development, and implementation of the matter of interest. It is also expected to
reduce the uncertainty that may arise in the course of operations. However, this is not always the
case, and sometimes the decision made is the destruction tool in the organization Blomqvist,
Halen, & Helenius, (2015) .The world today is full of uncertainty and what seems effective
today, tomorrow may be worthless. The market demand and skills or production means will
change overnight. It is, therefore, challenging to make decisions that will cater to this
phenomenon in the future. The best control strategy will be to change with change in time and
technology to maintain market relevance.
Skills created through involvement in the exercise
I have developed skills in the entire strategic plan development process. These skills
include determining the organizations' readiness for the practice, how to create a team and
schedules, how to collect data, and how to treat different shareholders in this process.

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I am also delighted to have learned that the decision made is not permanent. It is subject to
change with time and change in technology. The management should always embrace change as
a strategy to maintain market relevance.
What I would do differently given a similar task in future
Given a similar task in the future, I will create a team and schedules to collect and
process data rather than doing it solely. Teamwork ease processes since individuals have
different skills Riku, &Setyohadi, (2017). I will also ensure protocol in stakeholders' opinions,
priorities, and preferences to guarantee none will be left unsatisfied with the strategic plan
developed from the data collected.
Conclusion
This report is a reflection on a strategic plan development exercise I sometimes
conducted back. The report opens up by declaring what strategic plan is? What it entails? And
why organizations should develop a strategic plan. The report also looks at the uncertainty in
decision making and how to manage it. In the later part of the article is a detailed explanation of
how and why stakeholders’ priorities would vary and a solution on how they should be treated to
ensure stability.

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References
Blomqvist, S., Halen, M., & Helenius, M. (2015, July). Connecting enterprise architecture with
strategic planning processes: Case study of a large nordic finance organization. In 2015
IEEE 17th Conference on Business Informatics (Vol. 1, pp. 43-50). IEEE.
Chofreha, A. G., Gonib, F. A., Malikc, M. N., Khanc, H. H., & Klemeša, J. J. (2019). Evaluation
of the Sustainable Enterprise Resource Planning Implementation Steps. CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING, 72.
Johnson, V. (2016). Leading the historical enterprise: strategic creativity, planning, and advocacy
of the digital age.
Meidl, R. A. (2018). Post-Boston Incident: A PHMSA Enterprise Opportunity for Continuous
Improvement. Issue Brief, 10.
Nickols, F. (2016). Strategy, strategic management, strategic planning and strategic
thinking. Management Journal, 1(1), 4-7.
Popkova, E. G., Abramov, S. A., Ermolina, L. V., & Gandin, E. V. (2015). Strategic
effectiveness evaluation as integral part of the modern enterprise management. Asian
social science, 11(20), 16.
Riku, M. O., & Setyohadi, D. B. (2017, August). Strategic plan with enterprise architecture
planning for applying information system at PT. Bestonindo Central Lestari. In 2017 5th
International Conference on Cyber and IT Service Management (CITSM) (pp. 1-6).
IEEE.

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Sax, J., & Andersen, T. J. (2018). Making Risk Management Strategic: Integrating Enterprise
Risk Management with Strategic Planning. European Management Review.
Sen, D., Bingol, S., & Vayvay, O. (2017). Strategic enterprise management for innovative
companies: The last decade of the balanced scorecard. International Journal of Asian
Social Science, 7(1), 97-109.
Zhang, M., Chen, H., & Luo, A. (2018). A systematic review of business-IT alignment research
with enterprise architecture. IEEE Access, 6, 18933-18944.