Consultant: long term planning essential to corporate health, survival

Posted by Elena del Valle on June 11, 2010

The Business Tree book cover

Does your company have a business plan? Do you know what it is? If the answer is no. You are not alone. Only 2 percent of the businesses of the world have functioning strategic plans. At the same time most businesses (82 percent) and almost all (98 percent) of new businesses are small and emerging businesses. So far so good for entrepreneurs. The discouraging news is that 70 percent of new businesses go under in the first five years and 90 percent do so within 10 years. Many business owners may already be familiar with these statistics.

What they may not know is that 83 percent of businesses in the United States employ 20 people or less and only a mere 7 percent employ 100 or more. Although Hispanics own 7 percent of businesses in the United States 98 percent of Hispanic-owned businesses have 50 employees or less*.

What causes so many entrepreneurs to remain small or to lose their way and fail? Hank Moore, who makes a living advising companies on ways for them to remain healthy and profitable in the future, is convinced a plan for growth is essential for companies who want to be around past the initial years.

Also, to be competitive companies have to have a strategic plan that outlines their long term future and the tools that allow them to adapt to changing market conditions. Often he finds the companies that get into trouble are those that failed to plan properly from the start. He estimates that it costs six times as much to make adjustments to a company midway compared to one that set out with a strategic plan from the onset.

In his recently published book, The Business Tree Growth Strategies and Tactics for Surviving and Thriving (The Career Press, $15.99) Moore shares some of the wisdom he has acquired during a career as a corporate strategist.

The 224-page paperback book is divided into 10 chapters. The tree part of the title refers to the organization itself while each branch represents a component or aspect of the company. According to his biography, Moore, who specializes in big picture issues, has advised 5,000 clients including 100 of the Fortune 500.

*See Hispanic Business magazine May 2010