Welcome to PlanningSkills.COM

This website focuses on a wide variety of topics related to organization and individual planning situations. The primary focus is business planning.

Planning is an anticipatory decision making process that involves situation analysis, forecasting outcomes and events, evaluating alternative courses of action, anticipating consequences and considering implementation issues and contingencies. Planning often begins with asking one or more questions, for example: What if ...? Could we ...? Do we ...? Is it possible...? How should we respond ...? How can we ...? Is it feasible to ...?

In general, planning is a proactive process that is intended to help individuals, groups and organizations achieve performance objectives.

Featured Glossary Term

Innovation involves the creation of a new device or process based upon study, research and experimentation. An innovation strategy involves new processes, business ideas, and more basic R&D than is usually associated with a product development strategy. In a business setting, innovation may involve creation of new products and/or services. Innovation is usually paired with other strategies as a supporting or complementary strategy.

The London Innovation website states "Innovation is the successful exploitation of new ideas and is a vital ingredient for competitiveness, productivity and social gain within businesses and organisations. Innovation involves the successful exploitation of new ideas in any setting. Indeed, it can be anything from changing a daily business procedure and designing a new product for sale to discovering a new drug that reduced heart disease. Innovation is an attitude, a state of mind, and a creative process, as much as a specific task or action."

Featured Planning Tip

People and businesses compete for the same outcomes in many situations. A group of companies compete for market share and sales. One way to compete more effectively is to research the competition. Examine a competitor's product, its business strategy, its staff and resources. Figure out where a competitor is vulnerable.

"Customers always have a choice. They can either choose to do things the way they have always done them, find alternative solutions, or purchase your product. Identify your competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, and discuss emerging technologies. Without this information, your business will not be able to effectively respond to your competition." - The Corporate Bee

"No matter how enmeshed a commander becomes in the elaboration of his own thoughts, it is sometimes necessary to take the enemy into account." - Winston Churchill

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, "You should be very aware of your first-level competitors— in many cases, you'll know them by name and may even belong to the same business associations they do. If you don't know much about their business operations now, make sure that you do soon! It's to your advantage to know as much as you reasonably can about the details of their businesses."