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

Differentiation is one of Prof. Michael Porter's generic strategic thrusts that emphasizes providing customized and specialized products and services for all segments in an entire market. Examples of companies pursuing a differentiation strategy include: Dr. Pepper with a different taste; Federal Express with superior service; Caterpillar with high spare parts availability; Wal-Mart with value and more for your money; Rolex as a prestige brand; and 3M Corporation with its emphasis on technology leadership and innovation.
Actions to obtain a significant value difference that customers will appreciate and be willing to pay for and which may increase their product/service loyalty.

Featured Planning Tip

The essence of Tao philosophy is Wu Wei which means action through inaction.

Wu Wei describes a practice of accomplishing things through minimal action. By studying the nature of life, one can affect it in the easiest and least disruptive way by using finesse rather than force. The practice of working with the stream rather than against it is an often used illustration; one progresses the most not by struggling against the stream and thrashing about, but by remaining still and letting the stream do all the work. When planning actions try to find interventions that accomplish your goals at minimum cost and with minimum disruption.

Wu Wei DOES NOT mean however that one should "do nothing and wait and hope everything will be alright".