All businesses need to establish a plan because they need to
determine what they will do before they actually do it.
Businesses need a plan so that they have the opportunity to act,
instead of being forced to react. Planning need not be a
difficult or complicated process if you break it down into two
basic components. The first component is the end result you wish
to achieve. This end result can be called an objective, goal,
outcome or conclusion. The second component is the method for
achieving the end result. This method can be called a strategy,
tactic, activity or process. In this article, I will use the
terms objective and strategy and describe what they are and how
they can be used in the planning process. An objective must be
measurable, specific with respect to time, challenging but
attainable, and preferably written. To be useful, an objective
must be measurable. Examples of measurable objectives are:
increase sales by 15 percent; reduce scrap by $1,000 per month;
and reduce lost-time accidents by 90