18 CHAPTER 1 WHAT‘S IT ALL ABOUT?
The best way to rebuild a business when there are gaps in the collective expertise of
its people is to identify the additional skills required, recruit appropriately, and let the
expanded management team develop and execute its own plan. Sceptics rightly tend to
be horrified if the management team is not capable of developing its own plan. Indeed,
providers of external funding generally want to see a plan written by the business manag-
ers themselves as proof that they know what they are doing. Otherwise there is likely to
be some recruitment as a condition of the financing!
What do you do if you are an inventor or entrepreneur and you have a great product or
service but you are convinced that you lack the skills required to develop a business plan?
I have confidence that you can do it. The fact that you have invested in this book demon-
strates your commitment. Give it a try. Otherwise, perhaps you should look for a business
partner who has already demonstrated ownership of the required business skills.
‘A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together
can decide that nothing can be done.’
FRED ALLEN
Who writes the business plan?
The chief executive of the business or business unit should take overall responsibility for
the plan, but the best business plans are developed by the whole team. Some compa-
nies adopt a top–down approach, where top managers set strategy and leave minions to
develop the plan. Other corporations use a bottom–up methodology, where operating
managers set plans and pass them up to the top for some token strategic planning.
For an enterprise-wide plan, all departments – production, marketing, accounting and
so on – should contribute to the planning process and the final documentation. The
plan benefits from the contribution of appropriate specialist skills, while the production
workload is spread. This joint approach is also a good way to get widespread co-opera-
tion, understanding and commitment. Of course, the more people that are involved, the
longer discussions will take. You will need to use your organisation and meeting skills to
the full.
Undoubtedly, the best policy is a combination – top–down, bottom–up –
where top management sets the strategy, operating managers develop
their plans within the strategy, and then the whole process is reviewed,
amended if necessary, and then approved from the top. There should be overlap in
the middle.
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