What are the myths that could be hazardous for your business plans

Many people have this misconception that planning wastes the time. But this is a misconception. Rather, if it is done in a correct way by adopting a process, tracking changes, keeping it alive and managing the company with it, it adds value. Actually, what some experts are doing is putting up a straw man, pointing to those extreme cases in which some people let the development of the business plan become an end in itself--something that gets in the way of business rather than helping to optimize it. Some people spend years developing business plans hoping to "get financed" and doing nothing else. This not a good idea. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't focus on the plan at all. What we should actually do is, just not to let them sap all our time and energy.

Scenario planning and such to vaguely learn future possibilities lets us cope with the future as it comes over the horizon.  Planning based on past projections, perhaps with a whiff of expert input, can be very precise, and is most often precisely wrong.

This is the greatest mistake that a business enterprise can make. Because a company stands on the shoulders of its workforce, and keeping the employees happy is very crucial for a company to spell success. Some may have the notion that "employees should work to keep the mgmt. happy, mgmt does not hold any responsibility towards the employees" - however, it is very untrue.  Employee iteration is a big roadblock to the path of sucess for a company.

Thanks Namrata for the referral 

there is a notion that we should keep our idea a secret till it is fully developed and ready to launch.

It goes well while developing some major products for an already established company, and u r developing the bplan for them...

but as a start up, talk to various people, know their views and opinions. People think from different angles.

Remember, an idea can be fully mastered only by the person who has the vision for it. No one steals your idea, even if they do, they will take the same time as you to develop it and will never be as good as yours.

On the other hand, talking to various experienced people would do you great help and give you different insights.

A myth that is often held by people is that since the future is uncertain why plan the future. But future can be shaped to an extent, imponderables can be predicted, uncertainty dealt with, and contingencies can be thought out.

Many business plans look at planning the future activities with the available or easily accessible resources, and not the actual quality resources required....

this causes severe performance setbacks.

An entrepreneur should have faith in his instinct of need, instead of relying on easy availability.

Thanks for the referral Mr.Namrata Pathak. The major hurdle leading to hazardous for the business plan is not making the analysis/study on what has been planned and achieved. Every business plan should have a list of assumptions to follow. This is quiet normal part of every business plan. In the planning process one should be able to judge where to use/put the assumptions and it is a must to examine each and figure it out which ones, if any, have changed. Otherwise it will lead to failure.

Another problem in business planning is the comparison between the plan and the achievement. If it is not properly done it will take to meet the undesired consequences. Hence here also one should try to trace out the difference between the plan and the achievement/actual. The difference is called as the variance. The variance is positive when there are more sales and profits, and less costs & expenses. And it is negative when there are lower profits and sales, and increased expenses & costs.

But variance is not the end and it may be a beginning of a analysis. For example, sometimes the expenses will be lower than the planned target and on the contrary sometimes, the expenses will be lower due to not executing the marketing plans. Therefore this is the result of failure to use the business plan.

Regardless of whether the variance is positive or negative, the question is always what is required... Find out the reason for what went wrong..  What should should one do better from now on....  and what has to b e changed...

This is all about the business planning process. It is not a guessing game, it is like steering . In view of the above, based on the comparative analytical study, one should develop a strategy wherever it will make success.  

It is a great myth that better quality means better price. Many still believe quality adoption is cost enhancing activity and to many especially in small and medium segments that quality is a stamp or commodity available on shelf for a price. This second reason makes it impossible to bring change as is expected to happen minus self initiatives of business owners.

It is a myth that recruiting people at astronomical salaries will deliver performance !

Managements will do well to remember that you can get extraordinary results from ordinary people.

Quality is very expensive. The facility like Electronic Media like Television, Mobile and computer some one invented and we enjoy the benefits out of this. Like this also planning and spending on HR is must today, to benefit for the younger generation in larger aspect.

K Rajagopalan.