Strategic Planning Process-Market Research – Political, Economic, Regulatory, Competitive

 Â Â Â Â  The Strategic Planningwith visitors spending an average of 66 minutes per
 visit. has 10.7 million visitors monthly. Is this relevant ?
                      Market ResearchYou decide. As that marketing icon Bob Dylan would
– Political, Economic, Regulatory, Competitivesay, ‘the times they are a changing.’
                         ……….and This could all seem like bad news, or possibly shock
the greatest of these is Competitive Researchtherapy to a Marketing Department but on the other
A well integrated Strategic Planning Process hashand it could serve your company well as a
always been the cornerstone of strong Companycompetitive advantage. As a key component at the
earnings and positive market share growth amongfront end of the Strategic Planning Process to either
industry leaders. Within the Strategic Planning Processgather market research or to use it as an additional
there is a wealth of information available on thetool to disseminate information to key market
potential impact of Political, Economic and Regulatorysegments.
changes for the segments in which your companyA word of caution should be added to all of this as
operates. Corporate Planning for the next fewwell. ‘Those who talk don’t know and those
business cycles will pay particular attention to thewho don’t know, talk.’  Validate your
potential impact of the very turbulent financialsources to be sure the research is qualitative
markets worldwide.  research.
In 2009, this could include the potentially positiveEmbracing new technologies like blogging, wiki’s,
impact of the ‘bailout’ action plans of thenews networks, social networks and micro blogging
Barack Obama and Stephen Harper administrations,can possibly build brand loyalty faster than many
the ‘New Reality’ economic operatingtraditional methods of reaching consumers in these
environment and its potential business consequences,particular market segments. It cannot be ignored.
regulatory changes, and social trends for theMore e-communication in various forms now takes
environments in which your Company operates.place between individuals via these networks than
The competitive marketplace, however – that isthrough e-mail.
an entirely different matter.The new consumer is evident everywhere. It is no
The ‘Competitive Intelligence’ updates wouldaccident that bricks and mortar video rental stores
pay close attention each key competitor as well aslike Blockbuster and Rogers are giving way to other
new entrants and those exiting the business. Thealternatives. Interestingly enough, over 53% of their
research data on customer and supplier profilerental revenue came from late return charges. Some
changes that may impact the business going forwardinitial indications of change took place in larger cities
is a ‘mission critical’ element. There is nolike New York, LA and San Francisco. With Real
question that both the advancements in technologyEstate costs at a premium it created the perfect
and the seemingly ‘out of the blue’ arrival ofopportunity for NetFlix. Consumers could order their
non traditional competitors may in fact, along with amovies; the movie would arrive at their doorstep and
floundering economy, be the most essential aspectsthen, once viewed, is returned via the mail. A process
of Strategic Planning in this business cycle.however, that was still a bit clumsy.
All too often the road of an internalized StrategicNow, the ‘new and improved’ NetFlix of
Planning Process with only a cursory look at theCisco Systems Inc. HD broadband Video-on-demand
traditional competition as well as the potential impactsubscribers have video direct streaming access to
of new trends or technologies has led to marketover 12,000  HD or Blu-Ray titles as well as PVR
share self destruction. The emphasis is on marketservices like TiVo. Viewers can order online, view
research and qualitative data.online, and even store it online and watch it any time
As a good illustration, the Audio/Video, in-homethey want. Both NetFlix and On-Demand represent
entertainment, mobile devices and communicationscorporate strategies to improve the consumer
industries represent an excellent case in point. Theseexperience.
are all industries with very clear market leaders thatWith those questions then, what are the answers?
are now struggling to compete with new productsThe answer to all these questions again is simple:
and /or systems that are connecting with a newtimely qualitative research. It could also be called the
consumer who is on the grid; who is product savvy;4R’s of Marketing. The right product, at the right
who is environmentally concerned and who wantstime at the right price to the right consumer; AKA
immediate access to the latest of everything that isthe building block derivatives of an in depth strategic
just a ‘point-and-click’ away. Consumers justplanning process.
want to ‘plug and play’. They don’tThe Strategic Planning Process is the first step within
want to order or wait for CD’s, DVD’s,the discipline of Business Process Management. The
videos or have to buy a new device to get newfollow-up steps are then Business Case Methodology
features.to ensure that each and every meaningful Company
These same consumers make choices and forminitiative is accompanied by a detailed Business Case
opinions from Social Utility Networking Applications likefor Senior Management and/or Board approval. 
MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn (primarily a businessThe next stage in Business Process Management is
relationship networking site) and beware, these mayeither the Product Development Process or the
also be also the same consumers that have noProject Management Process that represents a
problem posting positive and negative videos aboutdisciplined, staged workflow process to ensure on
your company on YouTube.  They will share positivetime/on budget results. Built into each of the
or negative press or reviews about your product on‘processes’ are ‘go and no go’
Digg, a social news website. They willingly providecheck points for timely reporting back to Senior
their own interpretation of your marketing or logosManagement/Board.
on MySpace and at the end of the day, have theThe final stage of the completion of the project
power, through Twitter micro blogging, to spreadwould be its transfer into Operations. The final stage
news faster than the New York Times, who is alsoof the completion and launch of the product would
on Twitter themselves.be the transfer of product responsibilities into the
Are the right wing leaning, very conservative DrudgeProduct Management Process.
Report or the left leaning liberal Huffington PostThe fact that the marketplace is in transition across
relevant internet news hubs?  Well, the Drudgeeach end every industry segment isn’t new.
Report, founded in 1997, drew internationalChange and survival are commonplace and at least in
recognition in 1998 as first news network to breakconcept are not a great deal different than ‘The
the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal. After MattTheory of Evolution by Natural Selection’ by
Drudge’s report, Newsweek published the story.Charles Darwin. Those companies that are best
The consists mainly of a selection of hyperlinks toprepared for the ‘New Reality’ will thrive
news websites all over the world. A few years ago,and those that are not well prepared will despair.
the two man team of Drudge and Andrew BreitbartThere is nothing particularly unique about the key
moved the website from their LA apartment tocomponents Business Process Management. Similarly,
Drudge’s home in Miami, Florida. This virtual newsthe fact that the ‘excellence companies’
network will see Gross Revenue for 2009 projectedhave engrained both the discipline and the
at $15 million. Nielsen NetRatings reports a combinedfundamentals of Business Process Management into
5.3 million Drudge/Breitbart website visitors per monththe evolution of their businesses is also not unique.