Paul Tiffany - Business Plans For Dummies

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (large international book publisher): Wiley empowers researchers, learners, universities, and corporations to achieve their goals in an ever-changing world.

Tesla (global manufacturer of electric vehicles): Tesla’s mission is to the accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

Walt Disney (diversified entertainment company): The mission of the Walt Disney Co. is to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services, and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative, and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.

You may think that mission statements only represent businesses. But you also can use them for product categories (maybe coming up with one for yourself would be a good way to clarify your personal journey). The best statements not only describe the purpose of the product and what it offers, but they also capture something about the brand image that the product hopes to convey. Consider this statement from MINI Cooper USA — a division of BMW and distributors of one of the cutest cars on the road. It’s a tad bit on the wordy side, but it neatly includes both a mission and a message:

At MINI, we believe in the short cut, the long cut, and the just because cut. We believe a white contrasting roof makes an ideal canvas for whatever you can imagine. We believe in test drives that cross state lines, giving people a reason to smile when they see us coming, and the grace of being small and mighty. But, perhaps most importantly, we believe that although the distinctive personality of a MINI may not be for everyone — a MINI should be within the financial reach of anyone who has been smitten by it. Which is the reason we’ve made the price of both the MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S so accommodating.

Rooted in our heritage, our mission is to deliver cars and mobility solutions that heighten city life for customers today and tomorrow. Core to all MINI cars is our unique go-kart feeling, our iconic design, and our creative use of space.

Nice! Where do we sign?

Your mission statement is a giant step forward; in it, you articulate the purpose of your company by defining the business that you’re in. But the definition is just the beginning. When the world was recently consumed with the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for an effective vaccine was paramount, stating the nature of the mission was the easy part. But actually figuring out, step by step, how to get there and then get the jab into billions of arms was the real trick. It involved carefully formulated goals and objectives by the multitude of actors involved in the effort.

You don’t have to be planning how to fight a pandemic to know that goals and objectives are important. If you’ve ever planned a vacation trip by car, you know that choosing the destination is essential (and often painful, especially if the kids want to go to Disney World, and you want to refresh your knowledge of the bar scene in Key West). But the real work starts when you begin to work out an itinerary, carefully setting up mileage goals and sightseeing objectives so that your summer getaway doesn’t turn into another National Lampoon sequel. Goals and objectives are vital to successful business planning.

We know you’re eager to get going with your business plan. But spare us a few moments up front to introduce some important ideas that you can take advantage of when you begin setting your own goals and objectives.

Who needs goals, anyway? You may be the type who plans a trip by filling the SUV with gas, stopping at the ATM for cash, and flipping a coin as you head out of town and reach the first intersection. Ah, life, adventure, the thrill of the unknown! Why waste time trying to decipher a map when you’re just out for the ride? Maybe your approach is fine for a quick getaway break, but for a company, failing to set business goals can lead to more serious consequences — real serious.

If your business opportunities are so obvious and so overwhelming that you don’t need to define a particular course of action to reach your ultimate destination, you’ve won the business planner’s lottery. Be like the first-in folks with Bitcoin: just get out there and scoop the loot as fast as you can. Such opportunities are relatively rare, however. You’re more likely to run into one hazardous crossroad after another in your quest for gold, and a lack of careful planning can be dangerous indeed. Note the following examples:

Planning blunders have been partly blamed for fiascoes involving certain infamous product introductions, including the Ford Edsel in the 1950s, New Coke in the 1980s, and the Apple Newton PDA in the ’90s.

Motorola ultimately lost more than $5 billion on Iridium, its ill-planned low Earth orbit mobile telephone satellite system. By 2000 the venture was bankrupt.

In 2004 Google launched Orkut and in 2011 it introduced Google +. These online services were designed to give this innovative firm entry into the highly lucrative social media platform market. But by 2014 Orkut was gone, and in 2019 Google + was pulled, unable to compete against established incumbents like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Even the biggest can fail when they don’t do the heavy lifting required in business planning. Moreover, just because a company is successful in one sandbox doesn’t give it a free pass to play in another. Clearly defined goals and objectives can keep you from deviating down those deceptive rabbit holes, no matter how intriguing they may appear at first glance. Watch where you stray as you might stumble instead. Ouch!

Setting business goals and objectives provides an important insurance policy for your business: the opportunity to plan a successful course of action and then keep track of your progress. One way to focus your thinking when it comes to goal definition is to use the “SMART” approach. That is, your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This is a nifty little guideline to keep you from running off the track with goal statements that are too broad or so over the top that no one believes in them. Good goal-setting is not simply box-checking by the business planner. It’s providing direction for your future.

After you complete a mission statement, your business goals lay out a basic itinerary for achieving your mission. Goals are broad business results that your company absolutely commits to attaining.

Goals are typically stated in terms of general business intentions. You may define your company’s goals by using phrases such as “becoming the market leader” or “being the low-cost provider of choice.” These aims clearly focus the company’s activities without being so narrowly defined that they stifle creativity or limit flexibility.

In working toward set goals, your company must be willing to come up with the resources — the money and the people — required to attain the intended results. The goals that you set for your company should ultimately dictate your business choices throughout your organization and may take years to achieve. Goals should forge an unbreakable link between your company’s actions and its mission.