Strategic Planning Vs Underlying Business Culture

Tips and Advice On Strategic Planning and Business Culture

TAG Accountants Group are Business Advisors and Chartered Accountants. One of our aims is to help our clients run their businesses more effectively by utilising strategic planning tools and other tactics which are designed to promote a “culture of winning”.

In fact, the famous management consultant Peter Drucker is purported to have said that “culture eats strategy for breakfast”; inferring that first and foremost it is a business’s culture that lies at that the heart of its success.

Play to Your Business’s Cultural Strengths

Although business strategy is crucial, it is an organisations inherent culture that will ultimately determine how things get implemented. When challenged, most could write down some form of strategy, but it can be much harder for a business to build a winning culture. Furthermore, a brilliant strategy without an underlying culture that will help get it implemented is doomed to failure, whereas a company with a winning culture can still succeed even if its strategy is at best mediocre.

Therefore, the objective should be to compile a strategic plan that plays to the strengths of the business’s culture.

Business Advisors and Your Strategy

By way of example, a strategy might centre on two aspects. Firstly, which sectors should a business be operating in and secondly, what value proposition should it then market in each of those sectors.

A business’s cultural strengths are central to the first aspect of the strategy, i.e. sectors. For example, as Ryanair has a culture of keeping costs down and offering cheap prices, that approach would probably not succeed if they entered the premium sector where wealthy clients expect high-end service and the best of everything.

In terms of the second aspect of the strategy, the value proposition, customers will often consider intangible factors when making decisions too. For example, Virgin Airlines tries to attract passengers who prefer its casual, fun and non-establishment attitude so that an essential feature of their winning value proposition is being able to consistently offer that service at a great price point.

How Can Your Accountant Help?

Ultimately, a business’s culture is a critical ingredient when deciding on future strategies alongside product offering, pricing policy, and distribution channels. For example, great customer support can turn complainants into raving fans who will then become your biggest advocates. Of course, it may be that some aspects of the underlying business culture need to change as well, and that is where TAG Accountants can assist your team by looking objectively at any issues and the impact that they may have on any current or future strategic objectives.

So, don’t let “culture eat strategy for breakfast” – let us help you get them into balance for an even more successful outcome. Call TAG Accountants now on 01902 783172 for a FREE initial and friendly consultation with a member of our Senior Management team over a cup of coffee and let us show you how we are so much more than just Wolverhampton accountants!