e-Business Plan: Business Goals
From a planning perspective there is a big problem with the mission statement you have written. It promises a lot but does not say how the company intends to deliver on that promise. That is why a business plan also needs goals.
The purpose of this lesson is to assist you in writing several goals for your e-business. The lesson describes business goals through a list of characteristics and examples, and then provides instructions to write several business goals for your e-business plan.
The lesson outline is:
What is a Business Goal?
--Business goal characteristics
--Business goal examples
How to Write Business Goals
What is a Business Goal?
A goal is a statement that clearly describes actions to be taken or tasks to be accomplished by a company, a department or an individual. A business will have a number of goals, each describing a desired future condition toward which efforts are directed. If the goals are accomplished, then the business should be a success.
The dual purposes of goal setting are (a) to establish a measure for evaluating the success of the business and (b) set priorities for its management and staff, who should be held accountable for the accomplishment of the goals. Goals help keep management focused on success and away from distractive activities that drain business resources and accomplish little.
Business goal characteristics: Common characteristics of a business goal are:
· Derived from the mission statement: The starting point in writing business goals is to ask "what do we need to do to accomplish our mission." In other words, a mission statement says "what" and business goals say "how".
· Task-oriented: A business goal must state what is to be accomplished as clearly as possible. Effective goals use action-oriented verbs such as deliver, implement, establish, and supply; avoid poor activity indicators such as facilitate and analyze that can mean nothing significant or measurable gets done.
· Short term: Goals used to be long term indicators, something an organization would accomplish in three or more years. Today business moves faster and e-commerce companies function at "Internet speed". Accordingly, goals tend to have shorter durations, rarely more than three years and frequently one year or less. Most business plans will have a mixture of time frames for accomplishing goals.
· Specific: A goal must state, in one or two sentences, the conditions that will exist if the goal is to be accomplished. The more well-defined a goal is, the easier it will be to understand what is required and to measure successful achievement.
· Challenging: A goal should challenge the people who are responsible for its achievement. A goal should require considerable effort, but be achievable.
Business goal examples: What does a goal look like? Here are a few examples that support the mission statement for Purma Top Gifts:
· Implement an on-line store that contains a range of top quality Purma-made products that our customers will want to buy.
· Create a well-designed Web site that is fast, easy to navigate, responsive, and gives visitors the information they need.
· Set up a product distribution system that offers flexibility and reliability to our customers.
· Establish a partnership program that generates increased exposure and income for Purma Top Gifts and provides additional services for our customers.
· Promote Purma Top Gifts selectively in traditional and on-line media.
· Put in place a management structure that is able to accomplish the business of Purma Top Gifts efficiently and profitably.
In the business plan, each goal statement should include 1-3 sentences of explanation to explain the goal to the business plan reader. For example:
Establish a partnership program that generates increased exposure and income for Purma Top Gifts and provides additional services for our customers. Purma Top Gifts cannot be all things to all customers, so Purma Top Gifts will partner with vendors who offer goods and services our customers need, but which we do not provide. Potential partners include Purma-oriented information services, travel agencies, and tourism operators. Partnership activities such as link exchanges, affiliate programs, and banner ad exchanges will give Purma Top Gifts increased visibility on the Web at minimum cost while assisting our customers.
How to Write Business Goals
Writing business goals is a fairly straightforward exercise that can use some of the information you generated while writing the mission statement (e.g., target markets, services or products your company will provide).
With the mission statement in mind, make a list of the things that have to happen to fulfill that mission. This is an exercise that focuses on the task-oriented characteristic of a business goal. Then frame the goal statement and the brief explanation around the other goal characteristics -- especially specific and challenging.
You now have all you need to write the business goals, as required in assignment 4 in the Business Description lesson.