Best timing, purpose and benefits of a strategic plan

A strategic plan should be creative, introducing new concepts and future directions. The time when a strategic plan should be made:
1. Strategic planning is an essential step when a company is started.
2. A new strategic plan should be considered before a major venture, or before creating a new important product or service.
3. Each year, before the beginning of the new fiscal year, the strategic plan should be revised and improved, also the action plans should be updated.
4. Once every three years, an entirely new strategic plan should be elaborated, based on new external and internal factors.
The main purposes of a strategic plan are:
1. Clearly define the mission of the organization
2. Establish realistic objectives consistent with that mission
3. Define the time frame for accomplish these objectives
The major benefits of a strategic plan are:
1. Planning of a vision.
2. Communication: the goals and the vision are shared to organization members.
3. Define the key priorities and organize the company resources
4. By passing the SWOT analysis provide the necessary information about the Strengths, Weaknesses, along with Opportunities and Threads.
5. Provide the measures of the progress and the feedback mechanism.
6. Could build a powerful team and a strong relationship between directors and staff.
Personnel involved in elaborating of a Strategic Plan:
1. The chief executive officer CEO is the first person that should be included in the planning group. The CEO should lead and handle the development and implementation of the plan.
2. The board of directors are leading the everyday operations, so them could be too busy for that task. The board should be strongly involved in planning, but a special commission or group should be assigned to elaborate the strategic plan.
3. A consistent part of the stakeholders should be involved in the development of the strategic plan, as their financial decisions are crucial for the success of the strategic plan.