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List:       kde-promo
Subject:    RE: [kde-promo] Strategic Planning Framework
From:       "Benjamin Rossen" <b.rossen () onsnet ! nu>
Date:       2004-12-18 21:41:36
Message-ID: 000601c4e54a$5ccc73e0$6401a8c0 () office
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Steven  

This is excellent. Here is something to think about. 

When I brainstorm for a business plan, I follow a sequence, of which you
seem to have only one of six in your outline. 
(1) What are KDE's strengths? This is inward looking. You are interested in
describing what you have that makes KDE a great organization. 
(2) What are KDE's weaknesses? This is again inward looking. What does your
organization not have that it should? What can you not do that you should
do? 
(3) What are you going to do about your weaknesses? You have got to think
about his one, and putting it into your business plan is the first step. 
(4) What are KDE's advantages? This is outward looking and is about market
positioning with respect to competitors. You seem to have said quite a lot
about that. 
(5) What are KDE's vulnerabilities? This is again outward looking. How can
competitors out there get the better of KDE? How can changes in the world
economy, political events, shifts in fashion, passage of new laws and so on,
undermine your position? You have not given attention to this in your
outline. 
(6) What are you going to do to address KDE's vulnerabilities? It is
sometimes possible to turn vulnerabilities into strengths. You must spend a
lot of time brainstorming on this one. 

There are many more stages in developing a business plan than only these. I
did not get this from any one book. It is built up from years of writing
business plans, and reading many books. If you would like I could write a
much more detailed and extensive protocols for strategy development document
for KDE. Is the organization interested? 

I am keen to see where this initiative goes. 

Benjamin 

-----Original Message-----
From: Steven William Giacomelli [mailto:steve@orplex.com] 
Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2004 10:42 PM
To: KDE Promo
Subject: [kde-promo] Strategic Planning Framework

Hello,

I've realized that I've been all over the place without talking about any
real 
roadmap to the development of a marketing plan -- so i have decided to 
develop or rather to present a roadmap to creating a plan so that the
process 
can be understood and followed to completion

The first stage is to develop a strategic plan for the KDE project -- I'm
not 
talking about re-inventing the wheel since most of this has probably been 
thought of by various individuals or groups already -- what I'm talking
about 
is to codify this strategy and to present it in concepts of strategic 
planning so in that light:

There are three componets of a strategic plan

A) Mission/Vision/Objectives
This defines who the KDE project is -- why it exists -- what it hopes to 
accomplish -- etc

B) Competitive Position
Is how KDE offers its products -- ie the value it creates for the consumer

There are four generic competitive positions
- Customer focus strategy -- focusing on a niche consumer group
- Customer breath strategy -- wide number of products for a wide group of 
customers
- Low cost strategy -- producing at the lowest costs (does not really apply)
- Differentiation strategy -- providing consumers with a valued but 
distinctive service nobody else offers

C) Competitive Advantage
Are the internal advantages that give the KDE project the ability to occupy 
its competitive position -- such as a highly motivated developer core, a 
highly recognized brand name (KDE)  etc

The steps to developing a strategic plan are:

1. Development of the Mission, Vision and Objectives of the KDE project --
ie 
a KDE manifesto

2. Assessing the Firm's External Environment to determine viable a
competitive 
position
a) Competitive industrial analysis
b) Markets and customer analysis
c) Industry macro-environmental analysis
d) Understanding where the competitive threats and opportunities exist in
the 
environment

3. Assessing the Firm's Competitive Advantages
a) Analyze the firm's competitive advantages
b) Assessing the Strategic resource gaps -- internal strengths and
weaknesses
c) Development of approaches to attain new resources and capabilities

Note this framework is from a business book --> "Concepts in strategic 
management" 

The first step according to this framework is to define the 
Mission/Vision/Objectives of the KDE project and this can best be done in 
manifesto form since the KDE project is a community that should have its 
principles codified and rationalized in an agreed upon form -- i'm not 
talking about re-inventing the KDE project only brining ideas together in
one 
formal document.

This is why i feel a mission statement is the first step towards the 
development of any plan and why the community must "clarify" it.

Steven Giacomelli

 
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