Business planning is one of our core areas of expertise and we have carried out many business planning projects in a massive cross-section of market sectors in recent years.
We have a very pragmatic approach to business planning which centres around:
- An in-depth assessment of the business in its current position. Here, we are seeking to clearly define both the strengths of the business that can be developed and enhanced and the weaknesses that represent constraints to growth
- Careful analysis of the market conditions which are impacting / likely to impact on the business, either now or in the future. What we are seeking to identify here are market changes that may present either an opportunity or a threat to the business
- The establishment of a clear vision for the business, incorporating explicitly defined and measurable developmental objectives for the next 3 – 4 years
- The development of clearly defined strategies that aim to ensure the realisation of the Company’s growth objectives
- The preparation of full financial projections for the business planning period
Our explicit aim during any business planning process is to ensure that we develop a business plan which maps out clearly the strategic direction of the business in order that the owner-manager / senior management team can harness resources and focus on achieving results. We therefore want to ensure that the business plan developed serves as a working document to guide the efforts of the business during the implementation phase.
Our senior consultants also have significant experience of conducting business plan appraisal work on behalf of Invest NI and are therefore very familiar with its requirements in relation to business plans that are submitted for external funding purposes.
“We used Full Circle to develop our business plan earlier this year and found their approach to be very refreshing – rather than simply accepting our views and assumptions about the way forward for the business, they challenged us at every point. This made us reflect carefully on all of the fundamentals – where we are now versus where we want to get to over the next few years. It was an extremely worthwhile experience because we now have a very clear vision for the business and how we are going to achieve that over the next few years.”
Dr Mark McKinney, ATG Services Ireland Ltd.
“We appointed Full Circle to help us to develop a working plan for the business that would serve as a blueprint for us over the next few years. We have only bought over Ulster Engineering Ltd quite recently and the whole planning process forced to look at the realities of how we could inject new life into the Company. It wasn’t a straightforward process but the issues in the business aren’t straightforward. We are already beginning to implement key elements of the plan and we have a growth strategy that all of the team has bought into.”
Mark Cuskeran, Ulster Engineering Ltd.