STRATEGY
The end of the year corporate performance appraisal allows the firm to revisit the business plan for the year. More importantly, the end of year appraisal allows it to deal with nagging issues so as to have a better picture of their performance to date and what needs to change in order to achieve if not exceed their goals for the next year. Cleaning the clutter and the nagging items is of course the first place to start as far as an end of year check is concerned. Once this has been completed the firm needs to take a more structured approach which usually tends to start with reviewing the business plan for the year. As is often the case, SMEs tend not have a formal written business plan and now may be a good time to draft such a document. A business plan need not be a complex document and it can be as short as one page. The most important point about a business plan is that the route the company has decided to take is written down and communicated to all the staff. In this way the whole firm will be on the ‘same page’. The advantage of a written document is that it can be regularly visited to ensure that it still makes sense or whether the market dynamics are such that certain aspects need to change. Reviewing the business plan also allows the firm to identify the current and more importantly the emerging competitors. This means that the firm can always ensure that it has its ‘eyes on the ball’ and is fully aware of competitor developments so as to stay ahead of them. It’s not just enough to know of what competitors are doing but the firm also needs to obtain market feedback to understand what they are doing correctly as well as incorrectly. The firm can learn a lot from what has not worked for other firms so that it avoids making the same mistakes. The firm will also need to review its own performance through obtaining feedback from employees and key
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