operations strategy in a business plan

Operations Strategy: Types | Examples | Model | Developing

Operations strategy is the plan that outlines how an organization will use its resources effectively to achieve its business goals. The decision-making framework guides the processes, technologies, and workforce in an organization’s operations to create the highest level of efficiency possible.

Here are some key elements of an operations strategy:

• Resource Utilization:  This includes how the organization uses its physical resources, such as facilities and equipment, and its human resources, such as employees’ skills and knowledge.
• Process Design and Improvement:  This involves designing and refining processes to make them more efficient and effective. This could include improving manufacturing processes to make them faster or less wasteful and streamlining service delivery to enhance customer satisfaction.
• Supply Chain Management:  This involves managing the movement of goods and services from suppliers to customers. It could include strategies for managing supplier relationships, inventory management, logistics, and distribution.
• Quality Management:  This focuses on ensuring that the organization’s products or services meet certain standards. This could involve quality control, quality assurance, and continuous improvement strategies.
• Technology and Innovation:  This includes how the organization uses technology and innovation to improve its operations. This could involve adopting new technologies, developing innovative products or services, or implementing innovative process improvements.
• Customer Service:  This focuses on how the organization meets the needs of its customers. This could involve strategies for improving customer satisfaction, increasing customer loyalty, or attracting new customers.

An operations strategy should align with the organization’s overall business strategy and support its mission, vision, and objectives. It should be flexible enough to adapt to changes in the business environment and provide a consistent framework for decision-making.

Types of operations strategy

Broadly, operations strategies can be categorized based on the competitive priorities of a company. Here are a few common types:

• Cost Strategy:  This type of operations strategy focuses on keeping production and operational costs as low as possible without sacrificing quality. Companies with a cost strategy often emphasize efficiency, streamlined processes, and economies of scale. Many companies in highly competitive markets, such as retail, might prioritize a cost strategy.
• Quality Strategy:  In this case, the focus is on producing high-quality goods or services that stand out in the marketplace. This might involve rigorous quality control processes, superior materials, or highly skilled labor. Many luxury brands emphasize a quality strategy.
• Flexibility Strategy:  Companies with a flexibility strategy prioritize their ability to adapt quickly to changes in the market. This might involve flexible manufacturing processes that can quickly switch between different products or offer a wide range of customizable products or services.
• Delivery Strategy:  This strategy emphasizes the speed and reliability of delivery to the customer. This might involve efficient logistics and distribution systems, reliable order fulfillment processes, or quick service turnaround times. Many e-commerce businesses emphasize a delivery strategy.
• Innovation Strategy:  Companies with an innovation strategy focus on creating new or significantly improved products, services, or processes. This might involve a strong emphasis on research and development, a culture encouraging creativity and risk-taking, or a process for quickly bringing new ideas to market. Innovation Strategies: Explained with examples and framework
• Service Strategy:  This strategy focuses on providing superior customer service. Companies that prioritize a service strategy may invest in training and developing their customer service staff, implementing customer relationship management systems, or finding ways to exceed customer expectations. Service strategy: Explained with Examples

Remember, these strategies are not mutually exclusive. Many companies may aim to excel in more than one area. For instance, a company might strive to provide high-quality products quickly and at a reasonable cost. The key is choosing strategic priorities that align with the company’s overall business strategy and help it differentiate itself in the marketplace.

Developing an operations strategy

Developing an operations strategy involves several key steps. Here’s a general guide:

• Understanding the Business Strategy:  The first step is understanding the organization’s overall business strategy. This includes the organization’s mission, vision, and strategic objectives. The operations strategy should align with and support this overall business strategy.
• Analyzing the Operating Environment:  This involves analyzing the internal and external environment in which the organization operates. This could include analyzing the organization’s current operations, competitors, market trends, technological developments, and other relevant factors.
• Identifying Operational Objectives:  The next step is to identify the operational objectives based on the business strategy and the analysis of the operating environment. These are the specific goals that the operations strategy should achieve.
• Developing the Operations Strategy:  This involves deciding on the specific strategies that will be used to achieve the operational objectives. This could include decisions about process design, resource utilization, supply chain management, quality management, technology and innovation, and customer service.
• Implementing the Operations Strategy:  Post developing the operations strategy, the next step is implementing it. This could involve changing processes, systems, and structures; training and developing employees; and managing change effectively.
• Monitoring and Adjusting the Operations Strategy:  Finally, it’s important to monitor the performance of the operations strategy and make adjustments as necessary. This could involve regularly reviewing key performance indicators (KPIs), getting feedback from employees and customers, and staying alert to changes in the business environment.

Remember, developing an operations strategy is not a one-time event. It’s an ongoing process that should be revisited regularly as the business environment and the organization’s objectives change.

Operations strategy model

There are several models for operations strategy, but one of the most widely used is the Hayes and Wheelwright Model (also known as the Four Stage Model), developed by Robert H. Hayes and Steven C. Wheelwright in their book, “Restoring Our Competitive Edge: Competing Through Manufacturing.”

The model describes four stages of manufacturing effectiveness:

• Stage 1 – Internally Neutral:  At this stage, the company’s goal is not to mess things up; operations are seen as a necessary evil. The focus is on cost minimization and avoidance of any major issues. Manufacturing does not contribute to the company’s competitive advantage.
• Stage 2 – Externally Neutral:  In this stage, the company looks outside, comparing its operations with competitors and aiming to match industry standards. The objective is to catch up with and meet external best practices.
• Stage 3 – Internally Supportive:  A company’s operations align with its overall business strategy. The company tries to provide a level of operational performance that differentiates it from its competitors. This might involve offering higher quality, faster delivery, lower cost, or more innovative products.
• Stage 4 – Externally Supportive:  In this final stage, the company’s operations strategy is a step ahead of the competitors and becomes an active weapon to enhance its competitive position. Operations not only follow the business strategy but also enable and drive it. The company seeks to change the competition rules in its favor by leading industry change.

The goal is to progress from stage 1 to stage 4, turning operations from a neutral function to a strategic one that actively contributes to the company’s competitive advantage. This model provides a roadmap for this progression and helps companies identify their current position and understand the steps they need to take to improve.

Operations strategy examples

Here are examples of operations strategies from different companies:

• Amazon – Cost and Delivery Strategy:  Amazon has focused heavily on cost efficiency and quick delivery times. They use a vast network of warehouses and advanced inventory management systems to reduce costs and ensure quick delivery. They also continually invest in technology to automate their operations and improve efficiency. Their operations strategy supports their overall business strategy of being the go-to online retailer with a wide selection of products, low prices, and fast shipping. “All-Inclusive” business model of Amazon Prime
• Apple – Quality and Innovation Strategy:  Apple’s operations strategy focuses on high-quality products and continual innovation. Their operations include strict quality control measures and heavy investment in research and development. This strategy supports their overall business strategy of offering premium, innovative products that provide a superior user experience. What does Apple do | How does Apple make money | Business Model
• Tesla – Innovation and Sustainability Strategy:  Tesla’s operations strategy centers on innovating in the electric vehicle market and promoting sustainability. For instance, they operate a ‘Gigafactory’ for battery production, aiming to produce more lithium-ion batteries for their EV battery requirement. This supports their overall business strategy of driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles. How does Tesla make money: Business Model & Supply Chain Analysis
• Zara – Flexibility and Speed Strategy:  Zara’s operations strategy is based on speed and flexibility. They have a fast fashion model where they quickly move designs from the runway to the store, often bypassing steps that traditional retailers use. This quick turnaround allows them to respond to changing fashion trends faster than competitors, which supports their overall business strategy.
• Southwest Airlines – Cost and Service Strategy:  Southwest’s operations strategy is focused on cost efficiency and superior customer service. They maintain a fleet of identical aircraft for simplicity and cost savings and have a point-to-point operation rather than the traditional hub-and-spoke airline routing system. At the same time, they invest heavily in employee training to provide friendly, personal customer service. Their operations strategy supports their business strategy of being a cost leader with a fun, friendly image. A unique take on Southwest Airlines Strategy

These companies’ operations strategies align with their overall business strategy and help them achieve their strategic objectives.

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Mastering Operations Strategy: Key Elements for Success

What is Operations Strategy?

Definition of operations strategy.

An operations strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines the actions and decisions needed to manage and optimize the production and delivery of goods and services. It’s a roadmap designed to align day-to-day operations with long-term business goals, ensuring all activities contribute to overall organizational success. This type of strategy is crucial for establishing the methods and frameworks through which an organization achieves its objectives efficiently.

Importance of Operations Strategy

The significance of effective operations strategy cannot be overstated. By aligning operations strategy with broader business aims, companies can enhance their competitive positioning, realize cost efficiencies, and ensure smoother execution of business activities. Without a well-defined operations strategy, it becomes challenging to scale operations, enhance customer satisfaction, or achieve long-term sustainability. Explore business diagrams for strategic planning .

Aligning Operations Strategy with Business Goals: Ensures coherence and unified direction across all departments.

Enhancing Competitive Advantage: Through optimized processes and resource allocation, companies can outperform competitors.

Operational Efficiency: Streamlines processes to reduce waste and manage costs effectively.

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Examples of Operations Strategies

An operations strategy is a long-term plan that outlines how an organization will utilize its resources to support business objectives, deliver value to customers, and gain a competitive edge. Here are some examples of operations strategies across different industries:

1. Cost Leadership Strategy

Example: A manufacturing company might focus on reducing production costs through economies of scale, lean manufacturing techniques, and efficient supply chain management. Companies like Walmart and IKEA leverage cost leadership by focusing on high efficiency, large-scale production, and cost-saving measures to offer low prices to consumers.

2. Quality Improvement Strategy

Example: A luxury car manufacturer, such as BMW or Mercedes-Benz, might focus on superior quality as a core element of its operations strategy. This can involve implementing rigorous quality control processes, investing in advanced manufacturing technologies, and sourcing high-quality materials to maintain a premium brand image.

3. Customer Service Strategy

Example: A company like Ritz-Carlton focuses on delivering exceptional customer service as part of its operations strategy. By empowering employees to provide personalized service and resolving issues on the spot, the company creates a loyal customer base and enhances its brand reputation.

4. Sustainability Strategy

Example: A company like Patagonia emphasizes sustainability in its operations strategy. This might include using environmentally friendly materials, reducing waste in manufacturing processes, and encouraging recycling among customers to align with its brand values and attract environmentally conscious consumers.

5. Technology Integration Strategy

Example: A company like Tesla incorporates advanced technology into its operations strategy by investing in automation, AI, and robotics to streamline production processes, enhance product quality, and improve efficiency in its Gigafactories.

These strategies are often tailored to fit the specific goals and challenges of the organization and are designed to align with the overall business strategy.

5 Key Elements of an Operations Strategy

A successful operations strategy is comprised of several key components:

Resources: Including human, mechanical, and locational. It’s vital to assess both current capabilities and potential acquisitions.

Technology: Encompassing advanced tools beyond basic software, such as production automation and machine learning.

Products/Services: Analyzing the lifecycle of your offerings and adapting to market trends will optimize efficiency.

Facilities: Ensuring production facilities and inventory management systems meet operational goals and safety standards.

Production System: Essential for effective resource planning and quality control, influencing long-term operational efficiency.

Why is a Successful Operational Strategy Important?

Aligning with business goals.

An effective operational strategy is pivotal in ensuring that an organization’s daily activities are aligned with its overarching business goals. By synchronizing operational plans with strategic objectives, companies can streamline their processes and improve overall efficiency. This alignment helps in setting clear priorities and ensures that all departments work towards common targets, ultimately leading to cohesive and coordinated business efforts.

Gaining Competitive Advantage

A well-crafted operational strategy enhances a company’s competitive advantage by optimizing resource utilization and improving customer satisfaction. For instance, tailoring production processes to meet unique customer needs not only boosts brand loyalty but also positions the business favorably in the market. Competitive priorities such as speed, quality, and flexibility become achievable, thus providing a significant edge over competitors. Read more on a winning customer experience strategy.

Improving Operational Efficiency

An operational strategy is crucial for enhancing operational efficiency. It allows businesses to identify and eliminate bottlenecks, optimize workflows, and reduce operational costs. Utilizing tools like action plans can further clarify roles and responsibilities, making the execution of operational tasks more structured and effective.

Companies leveraging platforms like Creately, can achieve greater transparency and collaboration, resulting in improved productivity and streamlined operations.

Components of an Effective Operations Strategy

No matter which type of initiative you choose to prioritize in your company, you’ll need to consider several key components for an effective operations strategy:

Capacity Planning:

Accurately assessing your current resources and anticipating future needs is crucial for long-term success. A thorough understanding of your business’s capabilities helps identify what is necessary to sustain or expand operations.

Human Resources Management:

Effective HR planning covers everything from attracting new talent to retaining existing employees. Prioritizing your workforce can reduce turnover, stabilize operations, and preserve valuable institutional knowledge.

Quality Management:

Implementing quality management practices ensures that product development meets desired standards. In a professional service firm, this might involve focusing on client feedback to enhance collaboration and outcomes.

Supply Chain Management:

In manufacturing, supply chain management is vital. Streamlining the flow of goods from suppliers helps reduce costs, support growth, and ensure high levels of customer service.

Technology and Innovation:

Embracing digital transformation and cutting-edge technologies is essential for boosting business efficiency. Regardless of the industry, tools like AI, automation, and cloud computing can greatly enhance operational capabilities and inform better decision-making.

5 Core Types of Operational Strategies

Understanding the different types of operational strategies is crucial for optimizing your business operations. Here, we explore the various approaches and provide operational strategy examples to illustrate their application.

1. Cost-Based Strategy

A cost-based strategy focuses primarily on minimizing expenses to deliver competitive pricing. It involves optimizing the supply chain, automating workflows, and carefully managing resources to maintain low costs without compromising quality. This strategy is particularly beneficial for businesses competing on price.

Focus: Minimizing costs to offer competitive pricing.

Approach: This strategy emphasizes cost efficiency through optimized supply chains, bulk purchasing, automation, and lean production techniques. Companies aim to reduce operational expenses without compromising product quality.

Example: Walmart is known for its cost-based strategy, using its scale and efficient logistics to offer low prices.

2. Quality-Based Strategy

Quality-based strategies prioritize delivering high-quality products or services. This approach aims to enhance customer satisfaction, boost brand reputation, and reduce return rates. Companies implementing this strategy often invest in rigorous quality control processes and continuous improvement initiatives.

Focus: Delivering superior quality products or services.

Approach: Companies that adopt a quality-based strategy prioritize high standards in production and service delivery. They invest in quality control measures, continuous improvement processes, and premium materials to enhance customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

Example: Mercedes-Benz focuses on quality-based strategies by producing high-end vehicles with precision engineering and premium materials.

3. Flexibility Strategy

Flexibility strategies are designed to allow businesses to adapt quickly to market changes and customer demands. This strategy involves developing flexible systems and processes that can accommodate varying production volumes or personalized customer requests. Flexibility also fosters innovation and rapid product development.

Focus: Adapting quickly to market changes and customer demands.

Approach: Flexibility strategies involve developing adaptable systems that can respond to varying production volumes, customized orders, or changing market conditions. This strategy often includes diversification, flexible manufacturing systems, and scalable operations.

Example: Amazon’s ability to scale operations during peak times like holidays reflects its flexibility strategy, ensuring timely deliveries and meeting fluctuating demand.

4. Speed-Based Strategy

In today’s fast-paced business environment, speed is often a critical factor in gaining a competitive edge. A speed-based strategy focuses on minimizing the time required to produce and deliver products or services to customers. By implementing techniques such as just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, lean operations, and process streamlining, companies can significantly reduce lead times and enhance their ability to meet customer expectations swiftly. This strategy is particularly vital in industries where timely delivery is crucial, such as logistics and e-commerce.

Focus: Reducing lead times and accelerating delivery.

Approach: Speed-based strategies focus on reducing the time it takes to produce and deliver products or services. Techniques like just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, lean operations, and streamlined processes are used to increase efficiency and meet customer expectations for quick service.

Example: Companies like FedEx and UPS utilize speed-based strategies to ensure fast and reliable delivery services.

5. Dependability Strategy

Reliability is the foundation of trust between a company and its customers. A dependability strategy is centered on ensuring that products and services are consistently delivered as promised, maintaining high levels of operational reliability. By focusing on robust supply chain management, consistent production processes, and unwavering service quality, companies can build strong customer loyalty and a solid reputation for dependability. This strategy is essential for businesses where consistency and reliability are key to customer satisfaction and long-term success.

Focus: Ensuring consistent and reliable operations.

Approach: A dependability strategy centers on maintaining high levels of reliability in delivering products or services. This involves robust supply chain management, consistent production processes, and reliable service delivery, which build customer trust and loyalty.

Example: Toyota is known for its dependability strategy, focusing on consistent quality and reliable production processes through its well-established Toyota Production System (TPS).

6. Innovation Strategy

In a rapidly evolving market, innovation is the engine that drives growth and differentiation. An innovation strategy emphasizes the continuous development of new products, services, and business processes to stay ahead of the competition. By investing in research and development (R&D), fostering a culture of creativity, and embracing new technologies, companies can introduce groundbreaking offerings that capture market share and set industry trends. This strategy is crucial for businesses aiming to lead in dynamic sectors where staying innovative is the key to sustained success.

Focus: Driving growth through innovation in products, services, or processes.

Approach: Innovation strategies prioritize the development of new products, services, or ways of doing business. Companies invest in research and development (R&D), encourage creativity, and seek out new technologies to stay ahead of competitors.

Example: Apple’s focus on innovation in product design and technology has kept it at the forefront of the tech industry.

7. Service-Based Strategy

Exceptional customer service can be a powerful differentiator in a competitive market. A service-based strategy focuses on delivering outstanding customer experiences as a core component of the business’s value proposition. Companies adopting this approach invest in comprehensive training, advanced customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and continuous service innovation to exceed customer expectations. This strategy is vital for businesses looking to build strong, lasting relationships with their customers, where service excellence is the hallmark of their brand.

Focus: Providing exceptional customer service to differentiate from competitors.

Approach: Companies adopting a service-based strategy emphasize customer service excellence as a key differentiator. They invest in training, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and service innovation to create a superior customer experience.

Example: Companies like Ritz-Carlton and Zappos are renowned for their exceptional customer service, which is a core part of their operational strategy.

Adopting the right operational strategy can significantly impact your business’s efficiency and competitive stance in the market. By understanding and implementing a suitable strategy, you can better manage costs, maintain high-quality standards, and swiftly adapt to changes, thereby positioning your business for success.

Creating an Operational Plan

Setting goals and objectives.

Creating a robust operational plan starts with clearly defining your goals and objectives. Understanding what you aim to achieve helps structure your approach and ensures alignment with overarching business strategies. Begin by analyzing your company’s market position, current operational capabilities, and the competitive landscape. Utilizing tools like a SWOT analysis generator aids in pinpointing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, helping to set realistic and impactful goals.

Budget and Indicators

Once goals are established, the next step is to allocate a corresponding budget. An effective operational plan must include financial planning to fund different activities, whether for marketing, production, or human resources. Incorporating leading indicators is equally crucial, as they provide early signals for potential issues and help in proactively managing operations. Indicators like sales growth, customer satisfaction scores, and production efficiency metrics offer actionable insights for monitoring and adjusting strategies.

Communication and Documentation

A successful operational plan hinges on efficient communication and thorough documentation. It’s essential to communicate the plan’s objectives, strategies, and key performance metrics to team members and stakeholders to ensure everyone is on the same page. Keeping detailed documentation of processes, decisions, and progress aids in maintaining transparency and accountability.

Technology and Tools

Leveraging technology not only enhances the operations planning process but also streamlines execution. Integrated visual collaboration tools like Creately provide an interactive platform that enables users to visualize and manage operational plans effectively. Advanced tools such as Market Research, Competitive Analysis, and cascading OKR Structures can be used to help align day-to-day operations with long-term business goals. These tools facilitate data-driven decision-making, thereby improving overall operational effectiveness.

An operational plan serves as a roadmap to achieving business objectives, ensuring every team member understands their role and how their efforts contribute to the larger mission. By setting clear goals, managing budgets, maintaining open communication, and utilizing the right tools, businesses can vastly improve their operational efficiency and strategic alignment.

Benefits of a Robust Operations Strategy

Cost savings and optimization.

A well-defined operations strategy helps businesses manage and optimize costs effectively. By streamlining processes and removing inefficiencies, companies can minimize waste and reduce expenses. This strategic approach enables organizations to allocate resources more judiciously, leading to better financial health and a stronger bottom line.

Customer Satisfaction

One of the significant advantages of a robust operations strategy is the ability to deliver high-quality products and services consistently. This reliability boosts customer satisfaction and loyalty. Enhancing customer experience is imperative for long-term success, as satisfied customers are more likely to become repeat buyers and brand advocates.

Operational Efficiency

A meticulously crafted operations strategy ensures that all business activities are optimized for maximum efficiency. By simplifying workflows and leveraging technology, companies can enhance productivity and reduce the time and resources needed to achieve operational objectives.

Market Competitiveness

Companies with strong operations strategies are better positioned to compete in their respective markets. By aligning operational activities with strategic goals, businesses can respond swiftly to market demands, leverage opportunities, and mitigate risks. This proactive approach offers a unique competitive edge, making it easier to thrive in a dynamic market environment.

Leveraging Technology for Operations Strategy

In today’s fast-paced business environment, leveraging technology is critical to maintaining an effective operations strategy. Technology doesn’t just support operational processes; it transforms them. From automating routine tasks to providing real-time data insights, technology enables organizations to streamline their operations, reduce costs, and improve productivity and efficiency.

Types of Impactful Technology

Several types of technology can significantly impact your operations strategy:

Production Line Automation: Automation tools can optimize workflows, reduce errors, and increase consistency in production processes.

Machine Learning: Leveraging machine learning algorithms can predict maintenance needs, analyze production data, and improve decision-making processes.

Business Process Automation (BPA) Software: Platforms like Creately’s visual workspace can automate repetitive tasks, ensuring that resources are used efficiently.

Real-Time Data Integration: Tools that provide real-time updates on various KPIs empower businesses to make data-driven decisions quickly and effectively.

Tools like Creately facilitate the creation and execution of an operations strategy with features like Strategy Mapping Software and Real-time Data Integration , making it easier to visualize and align strategic goals effectively within your organization.

Utilizing comprehensive tools like Creately facilitate thorough planning, seamless execution, and continuous improvement, ensuring your operations strategy is always aligned with your overarching business goals.

Integration Benefits

Integrating technology into your operations strategy offers numerous benefits:

Enhanced Efficiency: Automating routine processes frees up valuable time for employees to focus on more strategic tasks.

Improved Decision-Making: Real-time data integration and analysis tools, such as those offered by Creately, provide the insights needed for informed decision-making.

Increased Collaboration: Collaborative tools allow teams to work together seamlessly, regardless of their physical locations.

Reduced Costs: By optimizing processes and reducing manual errors, technology helps to cut down on operational costs, thereby increasing profitability.

Best Practices for Implementing an Operations Strategy

Implementing an operations strategy requires more than just a solid plan. It involves leveraging the right tools, adhering to proven best practices, and constantly measuring and adapting the strategy to suit evolving business needs. Here are some of the key practices, tools, and frameworks that can facilitate the implementation of your operations strategy.

Key Practices

Embedding these key practices into your strategy implementation can ensure better outcomes:

Define Clear Objectives: Establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound SMART goals that align with your overarching business strategy.

Engage Stakeholders: Actively involve stakeholders at all levels to foster buy-in and ensure everyone is on the same page.

Document Everything: Maintain comprehensive documentation of all strategic decisions and changes to ensure clarity and accountability.

Communicate Effectively: Foster open communication channels within the organization to ensure smooth execution and alignment with business goals.

Monitor Performance: Use key performance indicators (KPIs) and other metrics to regularly track progress and make necessary adjustments.

Tools and Frameworks

Several tools and frameworks can assist in the successful implementation of your operations strategy:

Visual Strategy Mapping: Utilize visual tools like Creately’s Visual Strategy Mapping Software to create a clear and communicative visual representation of your strategy.

Market Analysis and Competitive Strategy: Regularly conduct market analysis and competitive benchmarking to stay ahead of industry trends and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Real-time Data Integration: Leverage real-time data integration to ensure that all stakeholders have access to the most current information, facilitating informed decision-making.

Analysis Frameworks: Employ various analysis frameworks like SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, and Porter’s Five Forces to thoroughly analyze internal and external factors impacting your operations strategy.

Project Management Software: Utilize tools like Creately to manage project timelines, resources, and ongoing tasks efficiently, ensuring a streamlined implementation process.

Measuring and Adapting

Continuous assessment and adaptation are crucial for the long-term success of an operations strategy. Follow these steps for effective measurement and adaptation:

Set Benchmarks: Establish initial benchmarks for various KPIs to gauge the performance against strategic objectives.

Regular Reviews: Conduct regular performance reviews to identify gaps and areas of improvement.

Incorporate Feedback: Actively seek feedback from various stakeholders and incorporate it into your strategic refinements.

Adapt to Changes: Stay agile and be prepared to adjust your strategy based on new data, market trends, and internal performance metrics.

Scale Up Successes: Identify successful elements of your strategy and scale them up across different departments and operations.

By incorporating these best practices, tools, and frameworks into your operations strategy implementation, you can ensure a more effective and dynamic approach to achieving your organizational goals.

In conclusion, an operations strategy is a vital framework that guides the efficient production and delivery of goods and services within an organization. It aligns daily operational activities with long-term business objectives, ensuring that every action contributes to overall success. The importance of a well-defined operations strategy lies in its ability to enhance competitive advantage, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

Key components of an operations strategy include resources, technology, products/services, facilities, and production systems, all of which must be carefully managed and optimized. Different types of operational strategies, such as cost-based, quality-based, and flexibility strategies, can be employed depending on the business’s goals and market conditions.

Effective implementation of an operations strategy involves setting clear objectives, engaging stakeholders, leveraging technology, and continuously measuring and adapting the strategy to meet evolving needs. By following best practices and utilizing tools like visual strategy mapping and real-time data integration, businesses can streamline processes, reduce costs, and improve overall performance, positioning themselves for long-term success in a competitive market.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

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Heroshe is a Content Specialist and Writer at Creately, the innovative online diagramming and collaboration platform. He crafts engaging, informative content that empowers users to unlock the full potential of Creately’s features. With a knack for simplifying complex ideas, Heroshe makes learning intuitive and accessible. Outside of work, he indulges his passion for art and music, bringing a creative touch to everything he does.

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How to Write the Operations Plan Section of a Business Plan

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

How to Write the Operations Plan Section of the Business Plan

Stage of development section, production process section, the bottom line, frequently asked questions (faqs).

The operations plan is the section of your business plan that gives an overview of your workflow, supply chains, and similar aspects of your business. Any key details of how your business physically produces goods or services will be included in this section.

You need an operations plan to help others understand how you'll deliver on your promise to turn a profit. Keep reading to learn what to include in your operations plan.

Key Takeaways

• The operations plan section should include general operational details that help investors understand the physical details of your vision.
• Details in the operations plan include information about any physical plants, equipment, assets, and more.
• The operations plan can also serve as a checklist for startups; it includes a list of everything that must be done to start turning a profit.

In your business plan , the operations plan section describes the physical necessities of your business's operation, such as your physical location, facilities, and equipment. Depending on what kind of business you'll be operating, it may also include information about inventory requirements, suppliers, and a description of the manufacturing process.

Staying focused on the bottom line will help you organize this part of the business plan.

Think of the operating plan as an outline of the capital and expense requirements your business will need to operate from day to day.

You need to do two things for the reader of your business plan in the operations section: show what you've done so far to get your business off the ground and demonstrate that you understand the manufacturing or delivery process of producing your product or service.

When you're writing this section of the operations plan, start by explaining what you've done to date to get the business operational, then follow up with an explanation of what still needs to be done. The following should be included:

Production Workflow

A high-level, step-by-step description of how your product or service will be made, identifying the problems that may occur in the production process. Follow this with a subsection titled "Risks," which outlines the potential problems that may interfere with the production process and what you're going to do to negate these risks. If any part of the production process can expose employees to hazards, describe how employees will be trained in dealing with safety issues. If hazardous materials will be used, describe how these will be safely stored, handled, and discarded.

Industry Association Memberships

Show your awareness of your industry's local, regional, or national standards and regulations by telling which industry organizations you are already a member of and which ones you plan to join. This is also an opportunity to outline what steps you've taken to comply with the laws and regulations that apply to your industry. 

Supply Chains

An explanation of who your suppliers are and their prices, terms, and conditions. Describe what alternative arrangements you have made or will make if these suppliers let you down.

Quality Control

An explanation of the quality control measures that you've set up or are going to establish. For example, if you intend to pursue some form of quality control certification such as ISO 9000, describe how you will accomplish this.

While you can think of the stage of the development part of the operations plan as an overview, the production process section lays out the details of your business's day-to-day operations. Remember, your goal for writing this business plan section is to demonstrate your understanding of your product or service's manufacturing or delivery process.

When writing this section, you can use the headings below as subheadings and then provide the details in paragraph format. Leave out any topic that does not apply to your particular business.

Do an outline of your business's day-to-day operations, including your hours of operation and the days the business will be open. If the business is seasonal, be sure to say so.

The Physical Plant

Describe the type, size, and location of premises for your business. If applicable, include drawings of the building, copies of lease agreements, and recent real estate appraisals. You need to show how much the land or buildings required for your business operations are worth and tell why they're important to your proposed business.

The same goes for equipment. Besides describing the equipment necessary and how much of it you need, you also need to include its worth and cost and explain any financing arrangements.

Make a list of your assets , such as land, buildings, inventory, furniture, equipment, and vehicles. Include legal descriptions and the worth of each asset.

Special Requirements

If your business has any special requirements, such as water or power needs, ventilation, drainage, etc., provide the details in your operating plan, as well as what you've done to secure the necessary permissions.

State where you're going to get the materials you need to produce your product or service and explain what terms you've negotiated with suppliers.

Explain how long it takes to produce a unit and when you'll be able to start producing your product or service. Include factors that may affect the time frame of production and describe how you'll deal with potential challenges such as rush orders.

Explain how you'll keep  track of inventory .

Feasibility

Describe any product testing, price testing, or prototype testing that you've done on your product or service.

Give details of product cost estimates.

Once you've worked through this business plan section, you'll not only have a detailed operations plan to show your readers, but you'll also have a convenient list of what needs to be done next to make your business a reality. Writing this document gives you a chance to crystallize your business ideas into a clear checklist that you can reference. As you check items off the list, use it to explain your vision to investors, partners, and others within your organization.

What is an operations plan?

An operations plan is one section of a company's business plan. This section conveys the physical requirements for your business's operations, including supply chains, workflow , and quality control processes.

What is the main difference between the operations plan and the financial plan?

The operations plan and financial plan tackle similar issues, in that they seek to explain how the business will turn a profit. The operations plan approaches this issue from a physical perspective, such as property, routes, and locations. The financial plan explains how revenue and expenses will ultimately lead to the business's success.

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How to Write an Operations Plan Section of your Business Plan

Free Operations Plan Template

• June 26, 2024

An operational plan bridges the gap between high ambitions and actual achievements. This essential integral section helps businesses thrive, achieve their goals, and handle challenges with accuracy and purpose.

But is it challenging for you to write one in a manner that shows a clear picture of your business operations? Drafting the operations plan section can be tricky due to the uncertainties of the business environment and the risks associated with it.

Well, worry not you’re at the right place! Here, we will see how to write an engaging operational plan in a business plan with an example. So let’s get going.

What is an operations plan?

An operations plan of a business plan is an in-depth description of your daily business activities centered on achieving the goals and objectives described in the previous sections of the plan. It outlines various departments’ processes, activities, responsibilities, and execution time frame.

The operations section explains in detail the role of a team or department in the collective accomplishment of your goals. In other words, it’s a strategic allocation of physical, financial, and human resources toward reaching milestones within a specific timeframe.

Key questions your operational plan should address

A successful operational plan section of your business plan should be able to answer the following questions:

• Who is responsible for a specific task or department?
• What are the tasks that need to be completed?
• Where will these operations take place?
• When should the tasks be completed? What are the deadlines?
• How will the tasks be performed? Is there a standard procedure?
• How much is it going to cost to complete these tasks?

Let’s see how to write the operations section that answers all the above questions:

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How do you write an operations plan section?

Writing an operations plan within a business plan involves summarizing the day-to-day tasks necessary to run the business efficiently and meet its goals in both the development and manufacturing phases of the business.

Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Development phase

In this stage, you mention what you’ve done to get your business operations up and running. Explain what you aim to change and improvise in the process. These are the elements your development section will contain:

Production workflow

Explain all the steps involved in creating your product. Provide a detailed description of each step, including any inefficiencies and the actions needed to address them. Here, you also mention any inefficiencies that exist and talk about the actions that need to be taken to tackle them.

Write down the risks involved in the production and potential problems you may face later down the line. State the safety measures employees take to avoid any misfortune while working. Explain how you store hazardous material and discard waste.

Mention any industry organizations and associations you’re a part of or plan to join. It’s essential to include this information to convey to the reader that you’re aware of the organizations and associations in your industry.

Supply chains

Here, you mention the vendors you work with to sell your products. Give a quick rundown of the agreements you signed with them. Mention the terms and conditions, prices, and timeframe of the contract. You can also mention if you have any backup suppliers if the existing ones fail to fulfill the requirements.

Quality control

Describe the measures you’re taking to assure and verify the quality of the end product. If you’re working towards getting a product certification, explain the steps you take to meet the set standards.

2. Manufacturing phase

The development stage acquaints the reader with the functioning of your business, while the manufacturing stage describes the day-to-day operation. This includes the following elements:

Outline of daily activities

Create an outline of the day-to-day activities of the production process. This includes the hours of operation, days the business will be open, and whether the business is seasonal or not.

Mention the location of your business , other branches you have, and their locations. If available, include images or drawings of the buildings, lease documents, real estate agreements, and other relevant documents. If you include these in your plan, mention why they’re crucial.

Tools and equipment

Describe the tools and machinery you use. You should also include the cost of the equipment; these will be important to predict financial requirements.

List down all your assets. These include land, buildings, tools, machinery, vehicles, and furniture. Include a legal description and the value of these assets.

Special requirements

If you require any additional facilities like water supply or power requirements, you mention them here. Specify what you need to do or have already done to acquire permissions for these requirements.

Raw materials

Mention your raw material suppliers. If you need any extra materials, you can also include them in your operations plan. Here, you also mention the contracts and agreements with your suppliers.

Productions

Explain the production process and the time required to produce one unit. Include the factors that may disrupt the production flow. Further, mention your strategies to tackle these inefficiencies to avoid delays in manufacturing.

Here, you state the process of storing manufactured products, managing the stock, and the costs of the storage spaces. Stringent management of inventory is essential to maintain product quality and assure customer satisfaction.

Feasibility

To ensure the viability and effectiveness of your product, detail any tests it has undergone. This includes prototype testing to evaluate the design and functionality.

Additionally, highlight product or service testing, such as performance, safety, and user experience assessments. These tests validate your product’s readiness for the market, ensuring it meets customers’ needs and regulatory standards.

Include the pricing strategy for your products or services. You can also include the final prices of your products.

Outline your pricing strategy including which approach you used, for example—cost-plus, value-based, or competitive pricing. Include the final prices of your products or services, providing a breakdown if there are different tiers or packages.

Why do you need an operations plan?

An operations plan is like an instruction manual for your business. It helps investors assess your credibility and understand the structure of your operations.

Internally, an operations plan works as a guide, which helps your employees and managers to know their responsibilities. It also helps them understand how to execute their tasks in the desired manner—all while keeping account of deadlines.

The operations plan helps identify and cut the variances between planned & actual performance and makes necessary changes.

It helps you visualize how your operations affect revenue and gives you an idea of when you need to implement new strategies to maximize profits. Some of the advantages of preparing an operations plan include:

Offers clarity

Operational planning makes sure that everyone in the audience and team is aware of the daily, weekly, and monthly work. It improves concentration and productivity.

Contains a roadmap

Operational planning makes it much easier to reach long-term objectives. When members have a clear business strategy to follow—productivity rises, and accountability is maintained.

Set a benchmark

It sets a clear goal for everyone about what is the destination of the company and how to reach it.

Manages resources

It supports you in allocating resources, such as human resources, equipment, and materials, ensuring that nothing is wasted and everything is used optimally.

Helps in decision making

An operations plan helps make smart decisions by showing how the business runs day-to-day. It provides details on resources, wise investments, and effective risk management, ensuring that decisions improve overall business operations.

Operations plan essentials

Now that you have understood the importance of the operations plan, let’s go through the essentials of an operations plan:

Strategic plan

Your operations plan is fundamentally a medium for implementing your strategic plan . Hence, it’s crucial to have a solid plan to write an effective operations plan.

Having clear goals is one of the most important things for an operations plan. For clear goals, you need to think SMART:

• Specific: Clearly define what employees should achieve
• Measurable: Quantify the goal to track progress
• Attainable: Set ambitious but achievable goals
• Timely: Provide a deadline

Different departments will have their objectives, all supporting the main goal. All these strategic objectives are flexible and should align with the company’s long-term goals.

Key performance indicators

It’s essential to choose the right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). It’s a good practice to involve all your teams while you decide your KPIs. Some of the important KPIs can be revenue growth, customer acquisition cost (CAC), net profit margin, churn rate, etc.

Creating a timeline with milestones is necessary for any business. It keeps everyone focused and helps track efficiency. If some milestones aren’t met in a certain period, then it’s time to re-evaluate them.

Examples of some milestones are:

• Hiring key team members in six months
• Setting checkpoints for different production phases like design, prototype, development, testing, etc.
• Acquiring the first 50 clients in a year

Now you’re all set to write an operations plan section for your business plan. To give you a headstart, we have created an operations plan example.

Operations Plan Example

We know this guide has been helpful for you in drafting a comprehensive operational plan section for your business plan.

If you’re still unsure or need help getting started, consider using business plan software like Upmetrics . It offers step-by-step guidance, so you won’t have to worry about what comes next.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a strategic plan and an operational plan.

A strategic plan outlines the long-term vision, mission, and goals of an organization, focusing on growth and direction over several years.

In contrast, an operational plan details the short-term tasks, processes, and resource allocation needed to achieve those strategic goals, emphasizing day-to-day efficiency and productivity.

What role does the operations plan play in securing funding for a business?

The operations plan defines the clear goals of your business and what actions will be taken daily to reach them. So, investors need to know where your business stands and it will prove the viability of the goals helping you in getting funded.

What are the factors affecting the operations plan?

Some of the factors that affect the operations plan are:

• The mission of the company
• Goals to be achieved
• Finance and resources your company will need

Can an operations plan be created for both start-up and established businesses?

Yes, both a startup and a small business need an operations plan to get a better idea of the roadmap they want for their business.

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

Reach Your Goals with Accurate Planning

An Ultimate Guide for Better Operations

• Operates towards success
• Describe business milestones
• Plan such as financials, budget planning 
• Turn your goals into an actionable plan

Crafting An Operations Strategy to Streamline Business Operations

An effective operations strategy aligns your business operations with corporate strategy to optimize productivity, reduce costs, and gain competitive advantage. This comprehensive guide explores what an operations strategy entails, its key elements, types of strategies, development framework, and the multitude of benefits it offers. Read on to learn how to leverage operations strategy to boost performance.

Defining Operations Strategy and Its Vital Role

An operations strategy is a high-level, long-term plan for how a company will utilize its limited resources and organize essential business operations like production, distribution, supply chain management, inventory management, and quality control to achieve its strategic goals and support overall corporate strategy.

A robust operations strategy sets clear strategic priorities and objectives for critical operations functions, outlines detailed action plans to drive productivity and efficiency improvements, and helps build competitive capabilities through optimized workflows. It provides a roadmap for aligning operations with the business mission and objectives.

With volatile markets and rising customer expectations, having adaptive operations strategies to respond quickly and effectively is more important than ever. A company’s operations sit at the core of executing its business strategy and value proposition. An operations strategy allows you to run them smoothly, efficiently, and in synch with corporate needs. It is a vital component for business success.

Key Elements Comprising an Operations Strategy

An operations strategy consists of various interconnected components working in unison to enhance operational performance. Here are some of the integral elements that make up an effective operations strategy:

Strategic Alignment with Business Goals

The operations strategy must fully align with and complement the overarching corporate strategy. There should be tight integration and consistency between the priorities, objectives, and goals of these strategies across departments. This enables synergy between functions and seamless strategy execution.

Structural and Infrastructure Decisions

These decisions specify the layout, technology systems, facilities, equipment, supply chain structure, inventory management processes, automation levels, and key operational processes required to support the operations strategy. The aim is optimizing capacity flexibility, integration, productivity, and efficiency.

Process Improvement and Optimization Plans

The operations strategy will detail action plans to analyze, streamline, and improve key operating processes through techniques like process mapping, Lean, Six Sigma, automation, IoT, and other innovations to systematically boost productivity and efficiency.

Performance Metrics and KPIs

Relevant key performance indicators and metrics must be established to monitor operational performance versus objectives across functions like production, inventory, supply chain, quality, and distribution. The use of data and metrics enables fact-based decision making and continuous improvement.

Policies, Procedures, and Standards

Guidelines for decision making and execution across operations are established through documented policies, procedures, and standards pertaining to quality, safety, sustainability, inventory control, procurement processes, maintenance, food safety, and more.

Risk Management Plans

Potential risks like supply chain disruptions, demand forecast inaccuracies, changes in product strategy, production bottlenecks, and labor issues are addressed through mitigation tactics, flexibility, and contingency plans to minimize probability and impact.

Types of Operations Strategies

There are three primary types of operations strategies to choose from:

Cost Leadership/Efficiency Focused

This entails aggressively minimizing costs and maximizing efficiency across all operations and business activities. The focus is on standardizing streamlined processes, exercising tight cost control, exploiting economies of scale, and driving waste reduction.

Differentiation Focused

A differentiation focused strategy aims to produce unique or highly customized products through flexible, responsive, and innovative operations and supply chains. Delivering added-value for customers is prioritized over low operational costs. Agility and quality are emphasized.

Hybrid Model

A hybrid strategy pursues both operational efficiency and differentiation. The goal is to offer customized products rapidly and cost-effectively through innovation, strategic partnerships, and optimized processes. This requires excelling at both cutting-edge innovation and rigorous cost control.

The optimal operations strategy depends on factors like industry dynamics, company resources and constraints, operational capabilities, and target customer needs. Firms often evolve their operations models over time as conditions and strategic contexts change.

Why Have an Operations Strategy? The Benefits

Developing and implementing an aligned operations strategy offers many tangible benefits:

Competitive advantage - Optimizes operations for differentiation, cost efficiency, speed, quality, or flexibility to outperform rivals.

Cost reduction - Eliminates non-value-adding activities and maximizes productivity to significantly lower operational costs.

Quality improvement - Enables consistent product/service quality through standards, training, controls, and process discipline.

Risk management - Contingency plans prevent and mitigate supply chain, demand forecasting, and production risks.

Increased efficiency - Lean processes, strategic layout, automation, waste reduction, and streamlining boost efficiency.

Data-driven decisions - KPI monitoring provides visibility into operational performance to drive fact-based decision making and continuous enhancement.

Strategic alignment - Links operations projects and objectives directly to critical corporate strategy goals.

Innovation culture - Differentiation focused strategies drive new product, service, and process innovation.

Agility and responsiveness - Strategic flexibility enables adjusting operations swiftly to market changes and disruptions.

Customer satisfaction - Operations improvements enhance product quality, service levels, speed, reliability, and overall value to customers.

A tightly integrated operations strategy delivers streamlined workflows and strategic capabilities to execute business strategy successfully. It is foundational to operating excellence.

Framework for Developing an Operations Strategy

While each operation strategy must align to the business context, here is a general framework for developing an effective operations strategy:

1. Evaluate Overall Business Strategy

Thoroughly assess the current business strategy and determine what operational capabilities and processes will be critical for supporting the overall strategic goals both now and in the future.

2. Understand Current Operational Resources

Take stock of existing operational resources including staff capabilities, facilities, technologies, equipment, supply chains, inventory systems, and business processes. Identify strengths, weaknesses, constraints, and gaps.

3. Assess Operational Capabilities

Analyze core operational capabilities related to efficiency, flexibility, speed, quality, and more based on resources and competencies to determine competitive advantage.

4. Identify Improvement Areas

Based on the business strategy assessment and internal analysis, pinpoint areas of operations, processes, and capabilities needing enhancement to achieve strategic goals and address weaknesses.

5. Set Operations Objectives

Define specific, measurable short and long-term objectives for enhancing operations functions like production, inventory, procurement, quality, and distribution based on business aims and performance gaps uncovered.

6. Make Strategic Decisions

Make plans and decisions on operational structure, infrastructure, processes, policies, layout, partnerships, technologies, automation, standards, metrics, and more needed to realize the defined objectives per the operations strategy.

7. Create Implementation Roadmap

Map out detailed activities, resources, budgets, schedules, constraints, risks, KPIs, and implementation owners to activate the operations strategy through organizational projects and change initiatives.

8. Monitor, Evaluate and Refine

Once implemented, continuously monitor performance through KPI analysis. Use insights to regularly refine and adapt the operations strategy and implementation plans to evolving business conditions and needs.

This expansive framework encompasses everything from strategic analysis, to planning, to project implementation, to performance tracking for an agile operations strategy.

Key Components of an Effective Operations Strategy

Certain core principles and best practices help shape a robust, successful operations strategy:

Tight Strategic Alignment

The operations strategy must seamlessly align with and fully reinforce the direction of the corporate strategy and marketing strategy. Any misalignment with business needs leads to poor strategy execution.

Customer-Centric Outlook

An intense customer focus will optimize operations to deliver maximum value to customers - through improvements in cost, quality, speed, service levels, or experience. Customer pain points should actively guide strategy.

Efficiency and Productivity Imperative

The strategy should aim to continually maximize productivity and eliminate all forms of waste through techniques like process digitization, data-driven optimization, Lean methodologies, and automation technologies. Output and efficiency are enhanced relative to resource inputs.

Measurement, Data Analytics and Optimization

Extensive KPI monitoring, productivity metrics, process mining, statistical analysis, and optimization algorithms inform fact-based decision making by providing visibility into operational bottlenecks, deficiencies, and improvement areas to address.

Culture of Continuous Improvement

A culture focused on continuously improving and optimizing processes and productivity should be fostered across operations through Lean methodologies, staff training, and engagement of cross-functional teams.

Technology Utilization

Advanced technologies like IOT, predictive analytics, blockchain, robotics automation, and artificial intelligence are increasingly leveraged to enable integrated, intelligent operations and supply chains and drive innovation where possible.

Adaptability and Flexibility

Build capabilities to rapidly adapt operations, supply chains, layouts, and product mixes in response to evolving strategies, customer needs, disruptions, and market conditions through contingencies.

Aligning Operations and Corporate Strategy

Seamless alignment between operations and corporate strategy is crucial for companies. Here’s how integration enables execution:

The corporate strategy sets vision, objectives, competitive positioning. Operations outlines how to build capabilities to excel at executing this strategy.

Growth focused corporate strategies require operational expansions - adding capacity, capabilities, facilities, systems, and supply chains.

Differentiation requires operational agility, customization ability, flexible processes, speed, and innovation to deliver specialized value.

Cost leadership needs a keen focus on maximizing efficiency, driving waste reduction, Lean processes, automation, and economies of scale across operations.

Customer-centric strategies require operations enhance speed, quality, service levels, and experience through targeted improvements.

If risk mitigation is a corporate priority, operations develops contingencies for supply chain disruptions, demand variability, and scenario planning.

New products/markets require operational changes to production processes, layouts, skills, technologies, inventory, distribution models and supply chains.

This tight integration between operations and corporate strategy allows executing business strategy seamlessly. It also enables feeding performance data back to refine corporate plans.

Operations Strategy vs. Operations Plan

The high-level operations strategy sets a long-term vision and strategic objectives for optimizing operations and aligning them to business needs. An operational plan provides granular steps for executing the vision:

Operations strategy - Multi-year blueprint covering operational structure, processes, capabilities, resources, metrics, risks, and strategic objectives.

Operational plan - Detailed implementation plans to activate strategy - budgets, schedules, KPIs, process steps, constraints, specific initiatives, and projects. Has a 1-3 year time horizon.

While the strategy sets direction, the agile operations plan enables concrete execution through sequenced projects and change initiatives. An operational plan is essential for realizing strategy.

Key Takeaways for Developing An Operations Strategy

Key points to remember about creating an impactful operations strategy:

Must align business operations seamlessly to corporate strategy and goals

Addresses operational structure, processes, infrastructure, policies, risks, performance measurement, and capabilities

Choosing cost focus, differentiation focus, or a hybrid model depends on strategic context

Provides competitive advantage through strategic operational capabilities 

Requires thoroughly analyzing internal resources, constraints, gaps, and weaknesses

Sets clear operations objectives for alignment with corporate aims

Enables innovation, productivity, quality, cost savings, and customer satisfaction improvements

Requires a detailed implementation roadmap and performance tracking

Must evolve as business needs, constraints, and external environments change

Developing the right operations strategy provides a strategic foundation to transform business operations and execute corporate strategy powerfully. Streamlined processes, improved productivity, synergy across functions, and strategic integration enable operational excellence and competitiveness.

The time to optimize business operations and boost performance is now. Use the insights covered to start crafting an operations strategy tailored your specific business context and aimed at aligning and enhancing operations to accelerate success.

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What Is an Operations Strategy & Why You Need One

Lucija Bakić

April 24, 2024

Have you developed a sound operations strategy ? If not, now’s the time to start.

An operations strategy is essential for ensuring that all aspects of your business are working smoothly. It’s a structured approach to end-to-end business management that considers overarching business goals and capabilities. Keep reading to learn about the importance of an operational strategy and how to best develop and implement one in your company (and the best operations software to support these processes).

What Is Operations Strategy?

Your operations strategy is part of the broader operations management process . It’s a comprehensive plan to ensure sustained operational effectiveness over the short and long term. The type of processes that your operations strategy involves can differ depending on your industry and business model. For manufacturing companies, it encompasses the life cycle of products from inception to market (we also have an article on capacity planning for the manufacturing sector that you can check out). For professional services agencies, such as marketing or creative agencies, it usually includes end-to-end project delivery and various background operations.

Why Is a Successful Operational Strategy Important

Without an operations strategy, your business will be working blind. And while this can be fine for a while, it’s unsustainable if you want to scale your business and grow your market presence. An operations strategy is the foundation of a successful business. It ensures the continuous functioning of day-to-day operational processes and long-term alignment with company goals (or the corporate strategy ). For agencies, it encompasses core agency processes such as:

• Resource scheduling and balancing
• Strategic human resources planning (SHRM)
• Managing project finances
• Administrative processes such as billing
• Client relationship management ( Agency CRM )
• Project and task planning

A well-developed business strategy guides teams towards more effective workflows, fosters alignment and collaboration, maximizes efficiency, and monitors business performance.

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The Benefits of Strategic Process Management

An effective operation strategy helps:

• Increase the company’s resilience and ability to adapt to sudden changes
• Optimize costs in operations through balanced resource utilization
• Improve overall profitability by helping companies focus on what matters most
• Standardize and align procedures across various departments
• Foster a proactive rather than reactive approach

5 Types of Strategies

Depending on what your main goals and business needs are, there are multiple types of operations strategies that you can utilize. Your company can focus mainly on one approach or combine multiple — for example, using a cost-based approach to reduce administrative costs with elements of the quality-based approach to maintain service standards. An overview of the most common competitive strategies include:

Cost-Based Strategy

A cost efficiency strategy focuses on minimizing expenses to offer competitive pricing. For manufacturing companies, this might involve optimizing supply chain management and production processes to reduce waste and lower unit costs. Professional services agencies would focus on delivering services faster by automating workflows and prioritizing crucial tasks to prevent cost overrun (learn more: what is cost overrun ). Cost optimization can be considered one of the essential strategies for successful businesses:

Source: Linkedin

Main goals:

• Reduce costs
• Maintain profit margins
• increase business competitiveness

Learn more by heading over to our article on the project analyst roles and responsibilities .

Quality-Based Strategy

A quality-based strategy focuses on maintaining high standards of product and service quality. Companies can improve quality control processes to ensure output meets or exceeds customer expectations. Another potential part of this strategy is focusing on building up your workforce. Highly skilled employees can deliver superior and more innovative client services, giving companies a unique selling point. Main goals:

• Deliver high-quality products or services
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Enhance brand reputation

Flexibility Strategy

A flexibility strategy enables businesses to rapidly adapt to changes in the market landscape and customer demands, as well as internal circumstances. For agencies, a flexibility strategy can be especially beneficial, especially considering how prevalent scope creep is. Flexibility is fostered by adopting responsive systems for workload scheduling and balancing.

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This helps project managers find the best solution for reallocation, especially in multi-project management. Another important aspect is to have a space where project progress and tasks are clearly visible — this helps onboard new employees and reduces the chance for miscommunication. Main goals:

• Enhance adaptability and change management
• Optimize resource allocation across multiple projects
• Facilitate collaboration and onboarding

Growth Strategy

A growth strategy focuses on expanding the company’s scale and scope. This might include entering new markets, launching new product lines, or acquiring other companies. Growth approaches for manufacturing and agencies of various types require scaling up operations, enhancing infrastructure, and possibly diversifying service offerings. Partnerships and investments in innovation are another great way to support company growth. Main goals:

• Increase market share
• Diversify products and services
• Strengthen competitive positioning

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Customer-Driven Strategy

Finally, a customer-oriented approach tailors processes to meet the specific needs and preferences of customers. It includes analyzing and segmenting the customer base to develop effective service strategies. Manufacturers might focus on customizable product options, and agencies can offer tailored service packages. Main goals:

• Improve customer experience
• Increase retention
• Attract new business

Key Elements of Operational Management

No matter which type of initiative you decide to focus on in your company, here are some of the main elements you’ll need to consider:

• Capacity planning : Evaluating current resource availability and forecasting future needs is an essential part of long-term planning. In-depth insights into your business capabilities provide an understanding of what needs to be done to maintain or grow operations.
• Human resources management : Human resource planning includes various approaches, from talent acquisition to retention. Focusing on your employees reduces voluntary turnover, ensuring more stable operations and continued institutional know-how.
• Quality management: Quality management includes steps to ensure product development is organized to meet desired quality standards. In a professional service agency, this might include focusing on client feedback loops for improved collaboration.
• Supply chain management: Supply chain management is a crucial concern in manufacturing strategy. Optimizing the flow of goods from suppliers is an essential part of saving costs, facilitating growth, and ensuring quality customer service.
• Technology and innovation: Digital transformation and integration of leading technologies are the main drivers of business efficiency. For companies of all shapes and sizes, solutions such as AI, automation, and cloud computing can significantly enhance capabilities and decision-making.

Tips for Successful Business Initiatives

According to research by McKinsey, the main causes for ineffective operations include:

• Unclear roles and responsibilities (40%)
• Redundant activities (32%)
• Unclear processes (28%)

Ideally, your operations strategy (both implementation and your work plan) will take into account these potential challenges. Here are the main steps for developing and implementing your strategies:

Analyze Company Goals

Before implementing an operational strategy, you’ll need to consider it within the context of your overarching business mission. This helps alleviate issues such as time spent on redundant activities and unclear processes, as it supports alignment across cross-functional teams. Strategic planning involves a throughout assessment of market conditions, evaluation of internal capabilities, and identification of key performance indicators. It ensures that the operations strategy is tailored to guide the company towards its objectives, such as increasing profitability, market share, or customer satisfaction. Find out more about the most important metrics for capacity management .

Define Responsibilities

A clear definition of roles and responsibilities avoids confusion and ensures accountability within the organization. Consider using a framework such as RACI to streamline this process. It includes defining who is:

• Responsible: The employees who need to perform a task.
• Accountable: The person who monitors completion and outcome.
• Consulted: The person who can support execution, usually a subject expert.
• Informed: People who need to be kept in the loop but don’t directly contribute to completion.

Having well-defined roles helps manage expectations and streamline processes, significantly reducing inefficiencies and improving productivity.

Foster Buy-In

Any change or initiative you want to implement in your company requires buy-in from all levels of the organization. This usually starts from the management level. For example, if a new type of software is introduced to save on costs and promote flexibility, all company teams should be aware of its importance. If business leaders resist using the new tool, it can lead to company-wide low adoption rates and inefficiencies, ultimately wasting the time and finances invested in the implementation. Another important thing is to encourage input and feedback from employees. This can lead to more engaged and committed teams, as your staff feel they’re part of the decision-making process and understand how their work contributes to the company’s goals.

Document Decisions

Putting strategic plans into writing ensures consistency and continuity. Your operational plan should involve specific processes, goals, and metrics that contribute to the completion of specific business goals. This documentation constitutes a clear guide for current and future stakeholders and provides a reference point for measuring progress. It reduces the potential for redundant or unclear processes and helps leaders make sound decisions.

Consider USING a single platform FOR YOUR DOCUMENTATION, such as Productive’s Docs

Continuous Improvement

Developing an operational strategy isn’t a one-and-done process. Your strategies will need to evolve according to external and internal demand. Continuous improvement involves regular reviews and updates to incorporate new insights, technologies, and methods. This includes ongoing assessments of operational efficiency, feedback loops, and keeping track of innovations in business practices.

Using Software for Strategic Planning

Nowadays, integrating the best software solution is an essential step to take your operational strategies to the next level. There are many potential solutions available, but some of the best options include all-in-one agency management software .

Get in-depth insights into your performance and plan out your future

Productive is an example of a comprehensive solution for agencies of all shapes and sizes. This includes consultancies, marketing agencies, website development companies, and creative companies of all kinds. What makes it one of the best tools to support agency operations? A combination of capabilities that include:

• Project and task management with billable hours tracking
• Resource scheduling and utilization insights
• Project budgeting and invoicing
• Real-time reporting and financial forecasting
• Docs and Productive AI
• Client portal and more

Businesses use Productive to scale their operations. Book a demo today to find out how it can help your agency today.

What are operations strategies?

Operations strategies include various initiatives for managing the day-to-day functioning of your business. They also ensure that your core processes are aligned with long-term company goals. Depending on your industry, they can include product management, supply chain, forecasting, and revenue operations strategy .

What are the four elements of operations strategy?

The four elements of operations strategy include capacity planning, supply chain optimization, quality control, and technology and innovation. Each of these elements are essential to streamlining business processes and improving overall performance.

What are the 4 perspectives of operations strategy?

The four perspectives of operations strategies include the top-down, bottom-up, market perspective, and competitors perspective. The top-down approach comes from senior management, while the bottom-up approach focuses on insights from operational staff. The market perspective aligns needs with demand from customers, while the competitors’ perspective considers your company in the context of the broader industry landscape.

What is the operations strategy of a project?

The operations strategy of a project refers to the careful management of the operational aspects involved in the successful completion of projects. This includes resource management and organization, project execution, progress management and reporting, and delivery.

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• Strategy & planning

How to create an operations strategy in 8 steps

April 05, 2024

An effective operations strategy is crucial for propelling an organization toward success. After all, it’s been found that organizations that commit to strategic management perform better than those that don’t. 

But, an operations strategy isn’t a one-size-fits-all concept. You really do have to work to find your best fit. Simply taking a process you’ve seen at another company and slapping it on your own is a great way to alienate your team and waste buckets of money on ill-fitting outreach campaigns. 

So what’s a business to do? Take time to learn the ins and outs of operations strategy, get to know why businesses should prioritize thinking about theirs, and follow our guide to creating and maintaining one of your own. Let’s dive in!

What is an operations strategy?

An operations strategy defines how an organization’s resources are allocated to achieve its business objectives. In other words, it’s essentially a blueprint that tells an organization how to go about doing business. It’s crucial for: 

• Optimizing business processes
• Fostering innovation
• Driving sustainable growth

What works for one organization may not work for another, and some businesses may even need to tailor their approach within each department. It only makes sense — processes that work perfectly in customer support may not serve a tech team the same way.  Catering to each team’s preferred way of working will give them room to thrive.

Furthermore, aligning this internal strategy with a market-focused approach is crucial. A coherent go-to-market strategy (GTM strategy) ensures operational efforts meet market demands, strengthening the company’s market position. This integration of internal processes with external market strategies is vital for sustainable growth and competitive advantage.

In essence, a successful operations strategy harmonizes a company’s internal environment with its external goals. And thus effective operations strategy managers should be the all-time experts in balancing internal and external factors.

Comparing strategy and operations

Strategy is high-level, big-picture thinking that involves setting long-term goals that align with the organization’s overall mission and vision.

Strategy looks at market positioning, competitive advantage, target audience, and overall business model. For example, deciding to enter a new market segment, developing a new product line, or implementing a new business model are all strategic decisions that shape the future direction of the company.

Operations is more granular and specific, dealing with the day-to-day implementation of the strategic plan.

Operations focus on optimizing resources, improving processes, and delivering products or services efficiently and effectively. This involves tasks like production scheduling, inventory management, customer service delivery, and continuous monitoring and improvement.

So, for example, once a strategic decision to enter a new market segment is made, operations come into play — by planning and executing marketing campaigns, managing production and distribution channels, and providing customer support tailored to the needs of that market segment.

While strategy sets the direction and long-term goals, operations focus on the daily activities that drive the company toward those goals. Both are essential for business success and effectively coordinating the two ensures an organization’s strategic objectives turn into tangible results. 

Core objectives of operations strategy

At a high level, a successful operations strategy is all about meeting internal needs to achieve business objectives. But more specifically, operations strategies should help optimize workflows, allocate resources, and ensure quality, among other things. Let’s explore each. 

Create and optimize processes

Operations strategy involves designing and refining processes to maximize efficiency, minimize waste, and enhance productivity across the organization. Effective operations strategies: 

• Streamline workflows
• Identify and eliminate bottlenecks
• Foster continuous analysis and improvement

Allocate resources according to cost and risk

Whether we’re talking about human capital, technology, or financial investment — operations managers should heavily guide decisions on resource allocation to support project goals and overall business objectives.

Effective operations strategy also looks at cost optimization and risk management. It’s important to cut costs without sacrificing quality, as well as assess and mitigate risks associated with resource allocation to ensure smooth project execution and business operations.

Control quality

Delivering high-quality products and services is non-negotiable in business. Operations strategy accounts for quality management processes to ensure products meet or exceed customer expectations.

In terms of quality, an operations strategy should: 

• Set quality standards : Establish and maintain high-quality standards across all aspects of operations, from product development to customer service.
• Establish a quality assurance (QA) workflow : Implement processes to monitor and check for adherence to quality standards throughout the project lifecycle.
• Ensure customer satisfaction : Make sure all products and services meet or exceed customer expectations, likely through partnership with the customer support department. This will drive customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.

Manage the supply chain

Where applicable, an operations strategy should also account for the following when it comes to the supply chain: 

• Supplier relationships : Create and nurture strong relationships with suppliers to ensure timely delivery of materials and components. This also positions them as a partner or collaborator rather than just a vendor. 
• Logistics optimization : Enhance logistics and distribution channels to minimize lead times, reduce costs, and improve overall supply chain efficiency.
• Inventory management : Implement effective inventory management practices to balance supply and demand, minimize stockouts, and reduce carrying costs.

Improve the customer experience

By aligning operations with customer needs and preferences, organizations can deliver personalized experiences, foster customer loyalty, and drive sustainable growth.

Tapping into resources like customer support tickets and product data analytics to gain insights, make informed decisions, and optimize operations will result in better customer experiences and business outcomes.

How to create an operations strategy (8 steps)

Crafting a robust operations strategy is the cornerstone of organizational success. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help business leaders and/or high-achieving operations managers navigate the process effectively:

1. Define your objectives

Like many processes, this one starts with clearly defining your business goals .

What do you aim to achieve through your operations strategy? Whether it’s improving efficiency, enhancing quality, reducing costs, or driving growth, set a few objectives now to serve as your North Star metrics throughout the strategy development process.

Stumped? Here are some ideas: 

• Streamline workflows to reduce process inefficiencies and optimize productivity.
• Enhance product quality standards to exceed customer expectations and drive satisfaction.
• Strengthen supplier relationships to ensure timely delivery of materials and components.
• Optimize logistics and distribution channels to minimize lead times and reduce costs.
• Implement effective inventory management practices to balance supply and demand and minimize stockouts.

Keep reading, we’ll show you how to refine these goal statements just a few steps down!

2. Get to know your audience

Before you go any further, it’s also a good idea to gain a deep understanding of your target audience and their needs, preferences, and pain points.

This is something that operations managers don’t always consider, but think about it — a customer-centric approach will ensure your operations strategy is aligned with market demands and focused on delivering value to your customers.

3. Develop a deep understanding of your team

It’s time to get a lay of the land before you start deciding how to navigate it. That means zooming in on one key internal factor: your team.

Think about the diverse work styles within your team. This will guide you in creating an operational strategy that allows every department and individual to wield their unique strengths to work toward the same goals. 

Here, you might even do a comprehensive SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) or SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results) analysis to assess your organization’s internal and external factors. These analyses will provide valuable insights into areas where your operations strategy can make the most significant impact.

4. Evaluate current processes

Take stock of your current operational processes and workflows. Identify areas of inefficiency, bottlenecks, and waste that are hindering productivity and performance. This evaluation will serve as the foundation for identifying opportunities for improvement.

5. Build actionable strategies and workflows

Based on your objectives, SWOT analysis, customer insights, and process evaluation, develop actionable strategies to address identified challenges and capitalize on opportunities. These strategies should be SMART : specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. 

6. Align operations with go-to-market

It’s vital to synchronize operational strategies with your GTM (go-to-market) plan to align every team and project toward the same growth goals, no matter from which side they’re approaching the product/service or customer market. 

Be sure to apply quality data to your GTM strategy so that it’s built on a strong foundation of up-to-date market information, can make accurate buying predictions, and even helps your team act on these signals at the right time with the right message. 

7. Allocate resources

Determine the resources required to implement your operations strategy effectively. This includes manpower, technology, finances, and anything else necessary to execute your strategies. Ensure that resources are allocated wisely to support your strategic objectives.

8. Implement and monitor

Roll out your operations strategy in phases, starting with pilot projects or small-scale implementations.

Monitor progress closely, track performance against KPIs (more on those shortly!), and make adjustments along the way. Continuous monitoring and evaluation are essential for ensuring your strategy remains aligned with evolving business needs.

Best practices for effective operations strategy

How can you build onto these steps to make your operations strategy performance go above and beyond? Implement these best practices once your groundwork is laid.

An operations strategy doesn’t have to be stiff. In fact, it shouldn’t be.

With a strategy that’s flexible and agile, you’ll be prepared to enact changes quickly instead of wasting time and energy on something that isn’t right. Agile operations strategies allow businesses to respond swiftly to market changes, customer feedback, and emerging opportunities, enabling them to stay ahead of the curve.

Flexibility is part culture — we’ll touch on that next — and part technology. Choose innovative tools, such as modern project management software, with features that allow for automation, analytics reporting, and other functions that give you both the time and data you need to move with agility and increase operational efficiency.

Promote a culture of continuous improvement

Foster a culture of continuous improvement within your organization, where feedback is encouraged, and lessons learned are integrated into future iterations of the operations strategy. This is key to innovation and agility to adapt to changing market dynamics and stay ahead of the competition. Encourage cross-departmental collaboration with tools and systems that allow for it.

KPIs to consider

SMART goals and North Star metrics share something important — they need defined key performance indicators (KPIs) to provide an observable, repeatable way to measure change. 

The KPIs you choose will depend on lots of things, such as your industry and business model, your strategy, your overarching business goals, etc. 

That said, here are a few ideas to help you get to thinking about your own: 

• IT KPIs: total support tickets vs. open tickets, product load time, mean time to detect or resolve bugs, etc. 
• Financial KPIs: operating cash flow, net profit margin, operating profit margin
• Sales and marketing KPIs: customer acquisition cost, lead conversion rate, deals closed YTD, etc. 

Operations strategy software

What are you waiting for? Now you have the knowledge needed to unlock the full potential of your operations. 

Once you’re able to align internal goals with external processes and forces such as market demand, you should have the foundation you need to build a strategy that smooths workflows and resourcing allocation, boosts quality, improves customer experience, and ideally delivers on ultimate business goals!

Backlog , Nulab’s project management tool, offers everything you need to keep operations on track, teams in sync, and goals in sight. From analyzing and visualizing data to keeping track of tasks, bugs, code, and clients in one central hub — project management software is a game-changer in the world of operations strategy. Try it for free today! 

John Marquez is a seasoned digital marketing specialist with eight years of experience working in the trenches with high-growth SaaS startups and leading enterprise companies like Zoominfo . When he’s not busy experimenting with new strategies in SEO, he’s at home sipping coffee with his seven dogs.

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Blog Business 10+ Operational Planning Examples to Fulfill your Strategic Goals

10+ Operational Planning Examples to Fulfill your Strategic Goals

Written by: Danesh Ramuthi Oct 25, 2023

An operational plan is a comprehensive, action-driven document that maps out how daily activities within an organization fuel the journey towards achieving strategic objectives.

Essentially acting as the nexus between high-level strategy and practical execution, this plan ensures that every department, from human resources to specific departments, operates in synchrony, aligning their day-to-day activities with the broader strategic goals.

By streamlining processes, it fosters cohesive efforts amongst diverse cross-functional teams, ensuring that both individual team members and entire departments work together harmoniously towards the company goals.

Ready to sculpt your organization’s future? Start your journey with venngage business plan maker and leverage their expertly crafted operational plan templates . 

Click to jump ahead: 

Why is an operational plan important?

10 operational plan examples, what should an operational plan include, how to write an operational plan.

• Strategic plan vs operational plan: What is the difference? 

In summary 

An operational plan is crucial because it serves as a bridge between a company’s high-level strategic planning and its day-to-day activities, ensuring that the business operations align with the strategic goals. 

While a strategic plan provides a long-term vision, outlining the company’s objectives and goals to gain competitive advantages in the business environment, the operational plan outlines the specific actions, key elements and resource allocation required to achieve those objectives. 

For example, while the strategic plan might set a goal for revenue growth over the fiscal year, the operational plan provides a detailed roadmap, breaking down major projects, assigning responsibilities to individual team members or specific departments and setting key performance indicators to monitor progress and ensure the entire organization works together effectively.

Operational planning, in essence, transforms the strategic objectives into actionable plans, ensuring that the entire team, from department heads to diverse cross-functional teams, is aligned and works in tandem to support revenue growth, increase productivity, and achieve the desired outcomes. 

Operational plans, through a well-structured operational planning process, also provide a clear understanding of the day-to-day activities, allowing team members to know their roles, leading to better collaboration and synergy. 

Moreover, by having clear operational plan examples or templates, businesses can ensure realistic expectations, manage their operating budget effectively and track progress through key performance metrics, thus ensuring that the company stays on course to realize its long-term vision.

Operational plans play a pivotal role in the business landscape, bridging the gap between strategic vision and tangible actions. They translate the overarching goals of an organization into detailed procedures, ensuring that daily operations are in line with the desired strategic outcomes. 

In the section below, I will explore a few operational plan examples, shedding light on their structure and importance.

Business operational plan example

A business operational plan is a comprehensive document that elucidates the specific day-to-day activities of a company. It presents a detailed overview of the company’s organizational structure, management team, products or services and the underlying marketing and sales strategies. 

For businesses, irrespective of their size, an operational plan can prove invaluable. By laying down the business goals and objectives, it acts as a blueprint, guiding entrepreneurs through the creation and implementation of strategies and action plans. The planning process also incorporates mechanisms to track progress and performance. 

Additionally, for startups or companies looking to scale, a meticulously crafted operational plan can be pivotal in securing funds from potential investors and lenders.

Layered on this are details about the company’s organizational structure, its products or services and its marketing and sales strategies. 

The document also delineates the roles and responsibilities of each team member, especially the management and key personnel. Given the dynamic nature of the business environment, it is imperative to revisit and update the operational plan regularly.

Related: 15+ Business Plan Templates for Strategic Planning

Simple operational plan example

A simple operational plan, often used by startups or smaller enterprises, emphasizes the basics, ensuring that the fundamental aspects of the business operations are captured succinctly. While it might not delve into the intricacies of every operation, it provides an overview of day-to-day activities, highlighting the goals and objectives the business aims to achieve in the short term.

In essence, this plan revolves around core elements like the company’s main objectives for the fiscal year, key responsibilities assigned to individual team members and basic resource allocation. A straightforward market analysis might also be included, offering insights into customer needs and competitive advantages the business hopes to leverage.

Though simple, this operational plan example remains pivotal for the organization. It provides a roadmap, guiding team members through their daily responsibilities while ensuring that everyone is working together towards shared goals. It becomes especially essential for diverse cross-functional teams, where clarity of roles can lead to increased productivity.

Modern operational plan example

In today’s fast-paced business environment, the emphasis on efficiency and innovative processes is paramount. The modern operational plan example caters precisely to this demand. Ideal for organizations aiming to streamline processes and highlight workflow, this type of operational plan emphasizes a more dynamic approach to planning. 

It not only reflects the evolving nature of business operations but also provides a modern backdrop for content, ensuring that the presentation resonates with the current trends and technological advancements. The use of modern tools and platforms within this plan enables diverse cross-functional teams to work together seamlessly, ensuring that day-to-day activities are synchronized with the company’s long-term vision.

Furthermore, such an operational plan helps the entire organization stay agile, adapting rapidly to changes in the business environment and ensuring alignment with strategic goals.

Minimalist operational plan example

The minimalist operational plan example champions simplicity and clarity. By focusing on clear and concise business strategies, it eliminates any potential ambiguity, ensuring that team members and stakeholders have an unclouded understanding of the company’s objectives and goals. 

The minimalist design not only promotes easy comprehension but also aligns with the modern trend of decluttering, ensuring that only the most vital components of the operational planning process are highlighted. 

This approach leaves no room for confusion, streamlining the planning process and making sure that individual team members and departments are aligned with the business’s key objectives. 

Moreover, the flexibility offered by a minimalist design allows businesses to craft an operational plan template that is not only functional but also accurately reflects their brand image and core values, ensuring cohesion across all aspects of the business strategy.

Clean operational plan example

The clean operational plan example stands as a testament to this principle. Ideal for businesses that prioritize clarity and directness, this format seeks to convey goals and strategies without overwhelming stakeholders. 

While maintaining a neat and organized layout, it ensures that tasks are managed effectively, helping team members grasp their roles and responsibilities without getting lost in excessive details.

One of the primary advantages of a clean operational plan is its ability to eliminate distractions and focus solely on the critical aspects of operational planning. 

Such a design aids in making sure that diverse cross-functional teams can work together harmoniously ensuring that day-to-day activities align seamlessly with the company’s long-term vision. 

The simplicity of the clean operational plan not only supports revenue growth by ensuring efficiency but also reinforces the company’s strategic goals, making it an excellent tool in the arsenal of businesses that believe in clear communication and precise execution.  

An effective operational plan acts as a roadmap, directing how resources should be allocated and tasks should be performed to meet the company’s objectives. Here’s what a comprehensive operational plan should encompass:

• Goals and objectives : Whether short-term or long-term, the operational plan should define clear goals and objectives that align with the company’s strategic plan. This gives direction to the entire organization, ensuring everyone is working towards a common aim.
• Clear responsibilities for team members : It’s essential that team members understand their roles within the operational plan. By outlining who is responsible for what, the plan ensures that there are no overlaps or gaps in duties and that everyone has clarity on their day-to-day activities.
• Assigned tasks: Alongside responsibilities, specific tasks need to be allocated to individual team members or specific departments. This granularity in assignment ensures that every aspect of the operational plan is covered.
• Timeline: This provides a clear schedule for when each task or objective should start and finish. A well-defined timeline assists in monitoring progress and ensures that the plan stays on track.
• Budget and resources : Every operational plan needs to factor in the budget and resources available. This includes everything from the operating budget to human resources, ensuring that the business has everything it needs to execute the plan effectively.

Read Also: 6 Steps to Create a Strategic HR Plan [With Templates]

As businesses evolve, it’s essential to have a comprehensive and adaptive operational plan in place to navigate the complexities of the business environment. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you craft an effective operational plan:

Step 1: Define your goals and objectives

Begin with a clear understanding of your strategic goals and objectives. This will act as a foundation for your operational plan. Ensure that these goals are in alignment with your company’s strategic plan and provide both short-term and long-term visions for the business.

Step 2: Determine roles and responsibilities

Identify the key stakeholders, department heads and team members who will play pivotal roles in executing the plan. Assign responsibilities to ensure that everyone knows their part in the planning process and day-to-day activities.

Step 3: Develop a timeline and milestones

Establish a clear timeline that breaks down the operational planning process. Include key milestones to track progress and ensure the plan remains on target.

Step 4: Allocate budget and resources

Determine the resources required to achieve your goals and objectives. This includes estimating the operating budget, identifying human resources needs and other resource allocations, ensuring you have everything in place to support revenue growth and other business needs.

Step 5: Outline day-to-day operations

Detail the day activities that are integral to the business operations. This will provide clarity on how different tasks and functions work together, ensuring efficiency across diverse cross-functional teams.

Step 6: Monitor and measure performance

Integrate key performance metrics and indicators to regularly monitor progress. Using both leading and lagging indicators will provide a comprehensive view of how well the operational plan is being executed and where improvements can be made.

Step 7: Review and adjust regularly

The business environment is dynamic and as such, your operational plan should be adaptable. Regularly review the plan, comparing actual outcomes with desired outcomes and adjust as necessary to account for changes in the business environment or company goals.

Step 8: Document and communicate

Create an operational plan document, potentially using operational plan examples or an operational plan template for guidance. Ensure that the entire team, from individual team members to the entire organization, is informed and aligned with the plan.

Related: 7 Best Business Plan Software for 2023

Strategic plan vs operational plan: What is the difference?

When running an organization, both strategic and operational planning play pivotal roles in ensuring success. However, each has a distinct purpose, time horizon and scope. Here’s a breakdown of the differences between these two essential business plans:

• Strategic plan : This plan sets the course for the organization’s future. It embodies the long-term vision and mission, detailing the objectives necessary to achieve it. The essence is how everyone, from C-suite executives to individual team members, collaborates towards realizing this vision.
• Operational plan : This is the roadmap for the day-to-day activities of the organization. While the strategic plan looks at the bigger picture, the operational plan hones in on the tactics and execution. It is crafted to support organizational goals with a focus on short-term activities specific to departments or functions.

Time horizon :

• Strategic plan : Long-term in nature, usually spanning three to five years.
• Operational plan : Concentrates on the short-term, with plans laid out yearly, quarterly, or even monthly.

Modification and updates :

• Strategic plan : This evolves over longer intervals, typically three to five years. There might be minor adjustments year over year based on changing business needs and the external business environment.
• Operational plan : Due to its short-term focus, it requires frequent assessments. Plans might be adjusted yearly, quarterly or even monthly to ensure alignment with the strategic objectives and current business environment.

Created by :

• Strategic plan : Crafted by the upper echelons of management – think CEO, CFO and other C-suite members.
• Operational plan : These plans come to life through mid-level management and department heads, ensuring alignment with the broader strategic vision while catering to specific departmental needs.
• Strategic plan : Broad in its outlook, it takes into account external factors like market trends, competition, customer needs and technological innovations.
• Operational plan : This narrows down the focus to the internal workings of the organization. It revolves around technology in use, key performance indicators, budgeting, projects, tasks and the allocation of responsibilities among team members.

As we’ve traversed through the importance of operational planning to various operational plan examples, it becomes evident that having a detailed and efficient operational plan is pivotal. 

From the business-centric to the minimalist approach, every operational plan serves as the backbone, guiding team members and ensuring that day-to-day activities align with the long-term vision and strategic goals.

By knowing what should be included in these plans and how to craft them, businesses can navigate the complexities of their operational environment with greater confidence.

For those looking to refine their planning process or start from scratch, the world of digital tools has made it significantly easier. Venngage offers business plan maker and operational plan templates designed to simplify the process. 

Whether you need to create an operational plan or draft a business strategy, their intuitive platform can guide you every step of the way.

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Operations Strategies 101-201: Definitions, Process, Plans, Pro Insights

By Kate Eby | July 17, 2017 (updated April 17, 2023)

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Operations strategies drive a company’s operations, the part of the business that produces and distributes goods and services. Operations strategy underlies overall business strategy, and both are critical for a company to compete in an ever-changing market. With an effective ops strategy, operations management professionals can optimize the use of resources, people, processes, and technology.

In the book Operations Strategy, authors Nigel Slack and Michael Lewis define the term. “Operations strategy is the total pattern of decisions which shape the long-term capabilities of any type of operations and their contribution to the overall strategy,” they write.

Technology and business models are rapidly changing, so businesses must keep pace and look to the future. 

“Those who get stuck on their own paradigms…perish,” says Tim Lewko, CEO and Managing Partner of Thinking Dimensions Global .

This article will provide an overview of operations strategy including purpose, examples, types, process, and how to write a plan. You’ll also hear in-depth insights from seven professionals, including a look at what the future may bring.

What Are the Operations of a Company?

A company’s operations are the activities that produce and deliver a product or service. Operations management is the profession that encompasses planning, implementing, and supervising that production. Some people think of operations as the daily tasks and tactics that transform materials or actions into a product or service, but operations strategy goes a level higher to determine operations approaches and goals.

In a car company, for example, operations could include the following: obtaining and transporting raw materials (metal, rubber, and plastic, etc.), dealing with suppliers, conducting and measuring the steps that transform materials into parts, managing the people, machines, and processes, assembling the vehicles efficiently, maintaining quality and troubleshooting problems, delivering car orders on time, and managing and continually optimizing the whole value chain. In addition, operations could play a role in product design, plant capabilities and design, and production or sales forecasting.

The seven main functions of operations are:

• Product management
• Supply chain
• Forecasting
• Facilities planning and management

Some people still understand operations as an organization’s daily operations and tactics, while others see operations strategy as having a key role to play in companies of any size.

What Is an Operations Strategy?

Operations strategy is an organization's planning and decision-making processes needed to achieve its operational goals. It includes the development and execution of plans, policies, and procedures that optimize resources, minimize costs, and improve the organization's operations' efficiency and effectiveness.

The Role and Purpose of Operations Strategy

Operations strategy is only one part of overall business or corporate strategy, but it’s crucial for competitiveness and success. Without a strong operations strategy, companies fail to keep up with changing markets and lose out to more strategic competitors. Many companies, big and small, have struggled with operations strategy, often lacking in comparison with technologically savvy competitors. For example, Amazon, while constantly advancing technology such as drones for delivery, has pushed aside myriad brick-and-mortar retailers.

To be effective and competitive, all parts of a company must work together. All departments should contribute to the company mission and have strategies underlying the overall corporate/business strategy. In addition to having an operations strategy, they should also have functional area strategies in finance, IT, sales, marketing, human resources, and possibly other departments, depending on the type of business.

“An operations strategy should guide the structural decisions and the evolution of operational capabilities needed to achieve the desired competitive position of the company as a whole,” says Tim Laseter in his article "An Essential Step for Corporate Strategy.”

These days, however, it’s not enough to simply follow best practices. Companies must innovate, not just play catch-up to practices already mastered by competitors.

Authors Steven C. Wheelwright and Robert H. Hayes categorized types of organizations based on a company’s attitude toward operations:

• Stage 1, Internally Neutral: The operations function is reactive and viewed as a necessary evil.
• Stage 2, Externally Neutral: The operations function adopts best practices and tries to match the competition.
• Stage 3, Internally Supportive: The operations function tries to provide support for the overall business strategy.
• Stage 4, Externally Supportive: The operations function provides competitive advantage for the company, and sets the industry standard.

Core Operational Strategy Areas

Different sources use different terms to describe strategy areas. Here’s one way to categorize core strategies:

• Corporate: Overall company strategy, driving the company mission and interconnected departments
• Customer-Driven: Operational strategies to meet the needs of a targeted customer segment
• Core Competencies: Strategies to develop the company’s key strengths and resources
• Competitive Priorities: Strategies that differentiate the company in the market to better provide a desired product or service
• Product or Service Development: Strategies in product design, value, and innovation

A company’s key success factors (KSFs) pertain to competitiveness, such as a company’s attributes, resources, capabilities, and competencies. By identifying these, a company can focus on the issues that matter most and measure them with key performance indicators (KPIs) .

Another way to frame strategic areas is by these “distinctive” competencies:

• Quality, such as performance, features, aesthetics, and durability
• Flexibility
• Tradeoffs, or competing on one or two distinctive competencies at the necessary expense of others

Author Terry Hill used the terms order qualifier and order winner. An order qualifier means a company or product has a characteristic that allows it to be a viable competitor. An order winner is a characteristic that causes customers to choose it over competitors.

Tips for Operations Strategies and Tactics

Specific strategies depend on your specific business. Here are strategy tips that apply to many companies, whether they are producing goods or services.

• Take a Global View: See how others worldwide are providing better goods and services. Learn from them, and see how you might compete and innovate in a core competency. Also, improve your supply chain by looking globally, and employ global talent if remote work is an option.
• Have a Strong Mission Statement: Focus your efforts with a mission statement that truly defines your goals and guides your business approach. Tie your overall business strategy and operations strategy into it.
• Gain Competitive Advantage with Differentiation: Develop a point of differentiation and a unique value proposition, and consistently innovate and build strategies around them. Don’t just use best practices. Exceed them, and leapfrog the competition. 
• Gain Insights from a SWOT Analysis: Analyze your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as a catalyst to strategy.
• Track Progress: Develop strong analytics and KPI dashboards to measure and optimize your operational efforts.

Operations Strategy Tips from Our Experts

Now, our seven pros weigh in with their tips for creating and implementing effective operations strategies. Robin Speculand and Tim Lewko were interviewed by phone, and the five others submitted responses in writing.

Robin Speculand is the author of Excellence in Execution: How to Implement Your Strategy . Speculand is the Founder and CEO of Bridges Business Consultancy and Creator of the Implementation Hub , a portal dedicated to strategy implementation and featuring more than 500 resources. 

Paraphrased from a phone interview, Robin Speculand advises using the Triple A model of alignment, accountability, and assessment. 

1. Alignment: Keep the team focused on balancing long-term and short-term perspectives. Many people trip up on this. To be aligned, you can’t just drive your individual silo. Don’t assume all plans are in alignment. You need consistent direction.  2. Accountability: Introduce a culture of holding people accountable. Make sure people know what’s important, and hold to your operational strategy. It’s one of the easiest areas to make a massive impact in. In such a culture, your boss checks in every week to see how you’re doing. It’s also important to link accountability to rewards and recognition.  3. Assessment: You have to be able to assess how you’re doing at any point in time. You need to measure with numbers.

Tim Lewko is the author of Making Decisions Better: How to Set and Simplify Business Strategy . Lewko is CEO and Managing Partner of Thinking Dimensions Global (TDG), a global management consultancy. He is also TDG's Managing Director of the Global Strategy Practice. 

Paraphrased from a phone interview, Tim Lewko offers these tips: 

1. Define what an operations strategy means in your organization. Create a common definition because different definitions can cause communication breakdowns.  2. Operations should follow from the company strategy. Business strategy is the “what,” and operations is the “how.”  3. An operations strategy is an investment in current and future capabilities underpinned by visible assumptions. For example, if an auto company considers building a plant in Mexico, it’s making assumptions about labor, capital, and trading. What does the team see as the future for the business? It’s important to state the assumptions. When FedEx built a runway in China, some people questioned the move. But FedEx saw a future market there.

Susan Ho is the Co-Founder and CEO of Journy , which pairs clients with a concierge to plan trips. Previously, she was VP of Operations Strategy and Customer Service at Fab.com and consulted on operations strategy for DigitalOcean, Blue Apron, and LearnVest. She started her career as a BCG consultant, advising companies on strategy and operations. 

Susan Ho says, “Figure out what you want to accomplish and how you’re going to measure success. When I first joined Fab.com, one of our biggest issues was communicating to customers about late deliveries — when, for whatever reason, a supplier would be late in shipping a purchase order to our warehouse, or our warehouse would take longer than expected to ship product out to customers. When shipments were late, customer complaints would pile in. We decided that we’d track the number of late shipping complaints as a percentage of total orders and use that as our barometer for success.” 

She continues, “Get all the teams that touch a process into a room together. (Major caution on this one.) This idea is actually much more complicated than it seems. If you just take this step alone, you’ll most likely have a horribly unproductive meeting where everyone is more angry at another team than before they walked into that room. As an operations strategist, my first step is to talk to key people on each team separately - not a VP or director-level necessarily, but a few people who are actually responsible for the day-to-day work. I have them walk me through their process end-to-end, and, then, I map it out and review it with them. Then, we can point out areas on the process map where a handoff between teams is breaking down, or there’s an SLA (service level agreement) that we haven’t clearly defined that’s leading to confusion about what to do. Once I do this with every team, I come up with a master list of issues and proposed solutions, along with the pros and cons of those solutions. Only then do I get the senior decision makers in a room together, so we can walk through each point and make a decision on questions like, ‘What team should ultimately own this?’ and ‘Should the cut-off point be two days or one day?’”

Merrick Levy is Chief Operations Officer for Shofur , a startup transportation company in Atlanta.

“Properly aligned employee incentives are a key factor for long-term operational success,” says Levy. “What many companies have found is that granting stock as a form of compensation has strong positive effects. When you lease a car, you treat that car much differently than one you own. You probably don't clean the car as often, make hard starts and stops, etc. When you own a car, you are much more careful to treat it well, so it stays in good condition over the long term. When employees own stock in a company, they make decisions that are better for the long term.” 

Levy adds, “An organization must assign accountability to only one person for key functions. More than one thing will fall through the cracks. An example in our businesses is ensuring we assign each reservation to the appropriate bus company. We have centralized accountability for every trip with our operations manager. He can delegate the work but is the only one accountable. Finally, When errors occur, ask “Why?” five times to determine the true cause of the error. Toyota has a great system of doing just that to get to the root of any error. We have found that this works great in our business as well. This way, you can easily get to the true cause of any operational failure and create a system to prevent it next time.”

Suresh Dalai has been implementing operations strategies for more than 20 years in Asia and the U.S., with consultancies such as Alvarez & Marsal and Kurt Salmon and global brands such as Levi Strauss and Ermenegildo Zegna. His views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of these companies.

Suresh Dalai offers the following points:   “1. Make it consumer-driven. Whatever operations strategies you develop, ask whether they help drive superior experience for the consumer — for example, accelerating production so that the consumer can get it faster, improving quality, etc.  2. Make it end-to-end. Many people may think of operations as a back-office activity, such as production or logistics. However, an operations strategy focuses on the entire value chain, from plan to make to move and then ultimately, to sell . Ensure that your operations strategy covers all four areas.  3. Make it well-understood by your team. Educate your organization so that everyone understands that operations strategy is always about the consumer.” 

Cristian Rennella is CEO and Co-Founder of elMejorTrato.com , a price comparison website for South America. 

Cristian Rennella recommends the following: 

“1. I recommend not trying what first comes to your mind. Before putting something into practice, check that you have all the resources, adequate personnel, and enough time. In some cases, assuming in advance that an idea is going to work can be as expensive as an unsuccessful test.  2. Have a sole responsible person. It is important that tasks are well organized, and, for this reason, more than one person in one single activity can be problematic. For example, at elMejorTrato, I am the one in charge of link building, and I take for granted that any related activity depends on me.  3. Have an adjustable working guide. Although it is useful to have a guideline, we always have to be prompt in adapting it to new situations. The market is an environment affected by continuous change, and it is essential to follow the herd (customers), modify rules, and make contributions.” 

Miguel Fajardo is Operations Manager at ShipMonk , a third-party logistics (3PL) fulfillment company.

“First, you have to know your team,” says Fajardo. “Understand their strengths and weaknesses. You need to make sure that you are playing to their strengths. Otherwise, they'll never be able to implement your strategy. Second, know the process. Anybody can determine a bottleneck when they see it, for instance, but do you know the process well enough to know why it happened? Third, you can't assume you know everything. Don't be afraid to read articles on how your competitors tackle operations problems.” 

Operations Strategy Examples

With the rapidly changing marketplace in recent years, some companies have excelled in part due to their strong operations strategies. Here a few examples:

• Amazon: Once known for books, Amazon is now known as the go-to platform for online shoppers of any product. Its distribution network is widely touted and even includes experiments with drone delivery.
• Apple Computers: Apple is long recognized in operations circles for its operational excellence and supply chain management.
• Walmart: This retailing giant managed to undercut many competitors on the price and variety of a wide range of products. 
• FedEx: FedEx made speed of delivery its calling card, achieving it with excellent operations.
• IKEA: The world’s largest furniture retailer undercut many home goods competitors on price and variety with its warehouse concept.

Types of Operations Strategies

We can broadly categorize major operations decisions as structure or infrastructure . Structure means the physical attributes of operations, while infrastructure refers to the people, systems, and software.

Structural decisions include facilities, capacity to produce, process technology, and supply network. An example of a decision many companies face is how much to outsource vs. handle in-house. The structural decision on whether to build or expand a facility is an expensive one that could affect the company for years to come.

Infrastructure decisions include planning and control systems, quality management, work organization, human resources, new product development, and performance management of employees.

Operations strategy has a vertical relationship with overall business/corporate strategy, and it has a horizontal relationship with other functional strategies, such as strategies for marketing, sales, finance, IT, and HR. 

Another way to categorize operations strategies is top-down or bottom-up . That is, operations strategies might come down from business strategy, supporting it. Or, strategies might arise over time as a pattern of decisions within operations.

Also, operations strategy can be market-led or operations-led . When it’s market-led, operations strategy derives from a response to the market conditions. When it’s operations-led, excellence in operations in a particularly savvy company drives the strategy.

Operations Strategy Framework

Operations strategy provides the ability to improve products, services, and processes. To develop the strategy, consider the business/corporate strategy and a market/needs analysis. Then, consider the competing priorities of cost, quality, time, and flexibility — and how you’ll handle them.

To exist in the market, you need to have acceptable quality, price, reputation/years in business, and reliability. To actually win more orders in the market, the factors change a bit. You need winning quality, price, speed of delivery, consistency of delivery, and reliability.

These factors combine like this to provide an operations strategy framework, as outlined by lean transformation consultant Anand Subramanian:

• We start with the business/corporate strategy, laying out objectives, such as return on investment (ROI), profit, and growth.
• We move to marketing strategy, where we consider factors such as customer segments, standardization vs. customization, innovation level, and leader-vs.-follower alternatives.
• Next comes order-winning criteria such as quality, price, delivery speed, design, and after-sales support.
• Last comes operations/manufacturing strategy, which includes choices of structure (such as facilities and process) and infrastructure (such as planning/control systems and work organization). Feeding into that strategy are the elements of product/process design, inventory, quality management, human resources and job design, and maintenance.

In a similar vein, Slack and his co-authors outlined five performance objectives in their 2004 book, Operations Management : 

• Cost: Ability to compete on low price
• Quality: Ability to compete on high quality
• Speed: Ability to compete on fast delivery
• Dependability: Ability to compete on reliable delivery
• Flexibility: Ability to compete with new products or services, wide selection, and timing

Authors Henry Mintzberg and James A. Waters wrote about how organizations form strategies in their 1985 book, Of Strategies, Deliberate and Emergent . Organizations start with an intended strategy , but only some of that is realized through deliberate strategy . Some intentions are left unrealized , such as those that didn’t adequately consider operational feasibility. Meanwhile, emergent strategies develop as patterns of actions taken in the organization — most often by the operations department. The deliberate strategies and emergent strategies feed into the realized strategies . This process shows the importance of operations details in the big picture.

Steps to Write a Strategic Operations Plan

Below are 15 straightforward steps for writing a solid strategic operations plan:

• Choose the Right People: Select those with the right knowledge to compile the operations strategy plan, sometimes just called an operations plan. Some businesses provide more strategy than others in their ops strategy plan.
• Study the Overall Business Strategy Plan: Sometimes the operations strategy plan is included as a section of the overall business plan. In any case, the ops strategy plan should align with the business plan.
• Develop Measurable Operations Goals: These should match up with the business plan. Don’t do KPIs in a vacuum. Ensure that stakeholders have a say and agree to the numbers. 
• Gather Key People to Brainstorm Strategies: Work on strategies (approaches to reach goals) and underlying tactics (specific steps and tasks to implement the strategy). 
• Outline Your Major Points to Maintain Your Plan’s Focus: Use headings, subheadings, and bulleted lists for clear organization. These will carry over to your fully written plan, providing clear structure and easy scanning. Your plan might have elements of a SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• Keep Your Audience in Mind: Write so that they will understand it. The plan is all about communication.
• Include an Index: Use this for easy scanning of the plan and its sections.
• Use an Appendix: Use this for supplementary material or for items too detailed for the whole audience.
• Include the Operations Budget: Include it, or cross-reference or cross-link it in your operations strategy plan. Show the rationale for key budget items, especially large expenses.
• Include a “Stage of Development” Section: Give an overview of the current state of operations and what you’re trying to accomplish and improve. Provide a high-level view of how you make your product, your supply chain, and quality control. Identify risks and how you’ll monitor them.
• Include a Production Process Section: This goes into detail on the daily production process, and demonstrates that you’ve worked out the necessary specifics. For manufacturing, you would list plant details, equipment, assets, materials, special requirements, inventory, and quality control steps. For a startup, you might include prototype and testing details.
• If Necessary, Divide Other Sections by Product Family: You can also divide them by product, service, or different areas of operations. You might include overall strategies and tactics and/or consider them by section.
• Use Flowcharts: Use these images and other graphics to make it more easily understandable.
• Build in Flexibility: Explain how you might adjust operations based on a changing market.
• Regularly Monitor Your Goals: Do this to see how your strategies and tactics are working. Adjust as necessary to keep ahead of the curve. A strong operations strategy plan is key to your success.

Pro Tips on Writing a Strategic Operations Plan

Tim Lewko (paraphrased from a phone interview) suggests that you do the following: 

1. Write the plan based on priority products. All products aren’t the same. For example, if you’re thinking of expanding into Canada, consider what percentage of primary products are represented there.  2. Know your current and future priority customers. Different departments such as operations, marketing, and sales may not agree on priorities.  3. Use a matrix of priority products and priority customers to clarify opportunities and decisions.  4. Decide whether to buy or build. Is it something you should outsource? You don’t need to know everything. You just need to know where to get it. 

Robin Speculand (paraphrased from a phone interview) provides these tips: 

1. Don’t wait for perfection. There’s no such thing. As soon as you roll out your operations plan, things change. Once you get 80 percent of your plan, start to roll it out.  2. Be clear on what’s actionable. You need to be able to explain what action is taking place across the division.  3. Make sure you have clear measures in place. Every objective must have a measure. 

Susan Ho says, “Don’t do it alone — communication and getting buy-in is everything. The biggest point of frustration I see from teams is when executives put forth operations plans and goals without consulting them. At best, it leads to unrealistic goals. At worst, it leads to a disillusioned team that’s not bought in. Before putting something down on paper and handing it to teams as gospel, schedule time with directors and managers to communicate the business-level goals, why they’re important, and why they need to happen. Talk to them about the operational implications of those business goals. What will be easy for them to achieve, what will be difficult, and why? What do they need to make it happen?” 

She continues, “Spend extra time mapping out interdependencies and worst-case scenarios. At Journy, we pair travelers one on one with an expert concierge who custom builds a detailed travel itinerary based on the customer’s interests. At the highest level, we have monthly revenue goals that we want to achieve. Because we have a labor and time-intensive product, we need to carefully coordinate three key variables: top-line growth based on marketing and sales initiatives; capacity (how many hours our concierge team has available), which is directly impacted by how fast we execute against our engineering roadmap; and hiring and training new concierges. At the same time, we also have SLAs to deliver all itineraries to travelers within 5-7 days of their request. Because of that, we have clear processes for how our marketing team communicates with our operations team and for how operational plans align with our marketing tests. For example, if the marketing team hits it out of the park, what is the implication for ops?”

“Connect the dots in your value chain,” Suresh Dalai suggests. “To make the plan end-to-end, start with the consumer and work backward (sell, move, make, plan). If sell is your consumer, working backward, you need to plan, make, and move. Your operations strategy should articulate how these steps are connected in your business and how each piece in the chain supports the next piece. Next, measure the effectiveness of your operations plan through consumer-facing KPIs. The KPIs should be as close to consumer experience as possible. For example, many operations KPIs are about meeting operational efficiency goals (e.g., reducing lead times from order to delivery, increasing fill rates [the percentage of the request filled at a certain time], or simply increasing the number of widgets produced per labor). However, a consumer-facing KPI would be, for example, the percentage of consumers satisfied with your product availability or with the high quality/durability of your products.”

“Operations plans are really focused on the middle section of the P&L (the costs), so minimize them,” says Levy. “While operations does focus on creating a system to scale an organization, keeping costs low and maximizing profit is something I look at carefully. Operations plans should ask tough questions like, ‘Is hiring this team necessary, or can we solve this with technology?’ or ‘Should we perform more experiments to test the viability of new businesses before investing heavily?’ These are questions that should be at the core of an operations plan for any evolving organization. You should also have all leaders present, and get in the weeds. As an executive, you have to get in the weeds when you are designing a strategic operating plan. Executives should constantly meet with people on every level of the organizational structure to test assumptions.” 

Levy adds, “Keep one eye on the short term and one on the long term. Short and long-term planning are equally important and not always easy to balance. Some plans may have the desired effect now, but could cause issues down the line. This often comes into play with the organizational chart and how different groups work together. You want to ensure that everyone is aligning their decision making - not only with their individual department, but also with the overall goals of the company. This is crucial for long-term operational success.” 

Cristian Rennella notes, “When writing a strategic operation plan, I suggest not writing it in full. It is advisable to write just the initial points. Then, make contributions so as to complete it according to the market needs. Another interesting point is about flexibility. Always be open to new modifications, not just at the moment of writing, but also once you’ve implemented the plan.” 

“First, be sure you have a contingency built in,” Fajardo emphasizes. “Manufacturers and distributors are likely to miss deadlines too, so build yourself leeway of plus or minus 48 hours on either side whenever possible. Second, sit down and consult with your department heads as you write the plan. What sounds feasible to your line manager might have major negative consequences for your receiving manager. Everybody needs to be on the same page. Third, if opportunity and operations flow permits it, test out small phases of your plan in a controlled fashion, so you can see if the pacing and flow match your desired expectations,” he concludes.

What Services Do Operations Strategy Consultants Offer?

Consultants offer a wide range of services in functional strategy areas like operations as well as overall corporate/business strategy. Among other things, they can help a business do the following:

• Map and assess their operations
• Improve alignment with the overall business and with other departments
• Create strategic plans
• Perform a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)
• Advise on better technology
• Develop benchmarking, KPIs, and goals
• Streamline operations for efficiency and cost reduction
• Implement strategic plans and new ways of doing things

Operations Strategy FAQ

What is operational effectiveness vs. strategy?

Operational effectiveness is about continually improving functional performance to better use resources and improve processes. Strategy is more about creating a unique value proposition to surpass competitors and succeed in the market.

What is meant by operational sustainability?  

Operational sustainability is the business’ ability to maintain existing practices without placing future resources at risk. It often refers to ecological resources.

What is a competitive capability?

This means a plant's performance compared with competitors. Performance capabilities include quality, delivery, flexibility, and cost.

The Future of Operations Strategy

Lewko (paraphrased from a phone interview) provides these thoughts on the future of operations strategy:  1. You don’t know who the future competition is, so you have to start looking now. Who could be a future competitor? Consider who has better distribution and better manufacturing.  2. What technologies can you leverage in your business that you haven’t already? How can you lower costs and/or better serve customers? Find a better way, a better price, better technology. You could have produced the best buggy whip in the world but still been beaten out by the automobile.  3. Use an outside-in perspective. Don’t just keep looking through the lens of what you’ve always done.

Ho points out that “Everyone has been talking about AI — from using it to streamline meeting scheduling (Clara.ai and x.ai) to making recommendations to managers about their teams (butterfly.ai) to using machine learning to solve complex problems. It’s certainly true that there are many implications for AI in operations strategies that can make the job easier. I would argue, however, that when it comes to operational strategy, getting the ‘right’ answer is just a small part of the job. It’s mobilizing the broader organization to effectively do something about that answer that is the greater challenge, and a machine just won’t be able to do that.” 

“The evolving trend in operations strategy is the integration of technology into every aspect of your business,” says Levy. “Operations executives must have a strong understanding of technological trends and push the envelope for integrating technology. The first question I ask myself when making a hiring decision is whether or not I can address this problem with technology. Technology and automation remove the possibility of human error, ultimately making for better processes across your organization” he emphasizes.

Speculand (paraphrased from a phone interview) believes that matching the pace of change is critical to future market survival: You have to be more fluid and agile than ever before. Operations strategies need to keep up with the pace of change. The digital transformation affects everyone to some degree, and operational models around the world are changing. Every operation is going to be challenged.

Dalai sees vertical integration, technology, and the right management talent as the keys to the future of operations strategy: “Vertical integration: Each player in the operational value chain will increasingly try to do what its customers or suppliers do in an attempt to control their own destiny and profit by eliminating the middleman. For example, the sellers of clothes will increasingly try to source materials and manufacture these clothes on their own instead of outsourcing the materials and production. The producers of clothes will increasingly try to sell them directly to consumers instead of supplying to the sellers (brands). However, the challenge in these moves is that companies are stepping out of their core competency. Some will succeed. Most will fail. Those who can harness technology well and have skilled managers will succeed in venturing into areas where they have less experience.” 

He continues, “Technology: Artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and virtual reality will be some of the tools through which manufacturers will try to get closer to consumers and sellers will try to be efficient in sourcing and production. Companies who can effectively utilize these technologies will likely win. Finally, there is the search for management talent: Vertical integration and the use of technology will heavily depend on strong managers who can coordinate across functions and activities and keep team members engaged. Two types of managers will be in high demand: those who have experience across selling, moving, making, and planning and those who can build a culture of cross-disciplinary creativity and teamwork.”

Rennella strongly believes “that in the future, the key for operation strategies  is video instruction. In fact, we have already implemented this up-to-date technique in our company. It is a good idea to show everything on a main screen and, what’s more, in short segments. The first time we made a video with strategies, it lasted almost 20 minutes, and as soon as we realized a mistake, making adjustments was a real problem. Consequently, we started recording short videos, no more than seven minutes. In a nutshell, fixed schemes are totally obsolete in such a volatile worldwide market.”

“The future of operations strategy? That's a tough one,” says Fajardo. “With more and more analytics and data in play, I suppose the job will only get easier in some respects. A/B testing won't be as necessary when you already know what the best outcome will be. Even so, the surfeit of data comes with its own problems. Operations strategists are going to have to be more adept at knowing what these numbers are and — most importantly — what they  signify.” 

More Resources for Operations Strategies

Here are more resources to continue learning about operations strategies.

• Implementation Hub, a portal dedicated to strategy implementation and featuring more than 500 resources. 
• Coursera online course — Scaling Operations: Linking Strategy and Execution
• Udemy online course — Operations Management

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Operational Planning: How to Make an Operations Plan

The operations of your business can be defined as the sum of all the daily activities that you and your team execute to create products or services and engage with your customers, among other critical business functions. While organizing these moving parts might sound difficult, it can be easily done by writing a business operational plan. But before we learn how to make one, let’s first understand what’s the relationship between strategic and operational planning.

Operational Planning vs. Strategic Planning

Operational planning and strategic planning are complementary to each other. This is because strategic plans define the business strategy and the long-term goals for your organization, while operational plans define the steps required to achieve them.

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Operational Plan Template

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What Is a Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan is a business document that describes the business goals of a company as well as the high-level actions that will be taken to achieve them over a time period of 1-3 years.

What Is an Operational Plan?

Operational plans map the daily, weekly or monthly business operations that’ll be executed by the department to complete the goals you’ve previously defined in your strategic plan. Operational plans go deeper into explaining your business operations as they explain roles and responsibilities, timelines and the scope of work.

Operational plans work best when an entire department buys in, assigning due dates for tasks, measuring goals for success, reporting on issues and collaborating effectively. They work even better when there’s a platform like ProjectManager , which facilitates communication across departments to ensure that the machine is running smoothly as each team reaches its benchmark. Get started with ProjectManager for free today.

What Is Operational Planning?

Operational planning is the process of turning strategic plans into action plans, which simply means breaking down high-level strategic goals and activities into smaller, actionable steps. The main goal of operational planning is to coordinate different departments and layers of management to ensure the whole organization works towards the same objective, which is achieving the goals set forth in the strategic plan .

How to Make an Operational Plan

There’s no single approach to follow when making an operation plan for your business. However, there’s one golden rule in operations management : your strategic and operational plans must be aligned. Based on that principle, here are seven steps to make an operational plan.

• Map business processes and workflows: What steps need to be taken at the operations level to accomplish long-term strategic goals?
• Set operational-level goals: Describe what operational-level goals contribute to the achievement of larger strategic goals.
• Determine the operational timeline: Is there any time frame for the achievement of the operational plan?
• Define your resource requirements: Estimate what resources are needed for the execution of the operational plan.
• Estimate the operational budget: Based on your resource requirements, estimate costs and define an operational budget.
• Set a hiring plan: Are there any skills gaps that need to be filled in your organization?
• Set key performance indicators: Define metrics and performance tracking procedures to measure your team’s performance.

Free Operational Plan Template

Leverage everything you’ve learned today with our template. This free operational plan template for Word will help you define your budget, timeline, KPIs and more. It’s the perfect first step in organizing and improving your operations. Download it today.

What Should be Included in an Operational Plan?

Your operational plan should describe your business operations as accurately as possible so that internal teams know how the company works and how they can help achieve the larger strategic objectives. Here’s a list of some of the key elements that you’ll need to consider when writing an operational plan.

Executive Summary

An executive summary is a brief document that summarizes the content of larger documents like business plans, strategic plans or operation plans. Their main purpose is to provide a quick overview for busy stakeholders.

Operational Budget

An operational budget is an estimation of the expected operating costs and revenues for a given time period. As with other types of budget, the operational budget defines the amount of money that’s available to acquire raw materials, equipment or anything else that’s needed for business operations.

It’s important to limit your spending to stay below your operational budget, otherwise, your company could run out of resources to execute its normal activities. You can use our free operating budget template for Excel to track your operating costs.

Operational Objectives

It’s essential to align your operational objectives with your strategic objectives. For example, if one of your strategic objectives is to increase sales by 25 percent over the next three years, one possible operational objective would be to hire new sales employees. You should always grab your strategic plan objectives and turn them into one or multiple action items .

Processes & Workflows

Explain the various business processes, workflows and tasks that need to be executed to achieve your operational objectives. Make sure to explain what resources are needed, such as raw materials, equipment or human resources.

Operational Timeline

It’s important to establish a timeline for your operational plan. In most cases, your operational plan will have the same length as your strategic plan, but in some scenarios, you might create multiple operational plans for specific purposes. Not all operational plans are equal, so the length of your operational timeline will depend on the duration of your projects , workflows and processes.

Hiring Plan

Find any skills gap there might be in your team. You might need to hire a couple of individuals or even create new departments in order to execute your business processes .

Quality Assurance and Control

Most companies implement quality assurance and control procedures for a variety of reasons such as customer safety and regulatory compliance. In addition, quality assurance issues can cost your business millions, so establishing quality management protocols is a key step in operational planning.

Key Performance Indicators

It’s important to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the productivity of your business operations. You can define as many KPIs as needed for all your business processes. For example, you can define KPIs for marketing, sales, product development and other key departments in your company. This can include product launch deadlines, number of manufactured goods, number of customer service cases closed, number of 5-star reviews received, number of customers acquired, revenue increased by a certain percentage and so on.

Risks, Assumptions and Constraints

Note any potential risks, assumptions and time or resource constraints that might affect your business operations.

What Are the Benefits of Operational Planning?

Every plan has a massive effect on all team members involved, and those can be to your company’s benefit or to their detriment. If it’s to their detriment, it’s best to find out as soon as possible so you can modify your operational plan and pivot with ease.

But that’s the whole point of operational planning: you get to see the effect of your operations on the business’s bottom line in real time, or at every benchmark, so you know exactly when to pivot. And with a plan that’s as custom to each department as an operational plan, you know exactly where things go wrong and why.

How ProjectManager Can Help with Operational Planning

Creating and implementing a high-quality operational plan is the best way to ensure that your organization starts out a project on the right foot. ProjectManager has award-winning project management tools to help you craft and execute such a plan.

Gantt charts are essential to create and monitor operational plans effectively. ProjectManager helps you access your Gantt chart online so you can add benchmarks for operational performance reviews. You can also create tasks along with dependencies to make the operation a surefire success.

Whether you’re a team of IT system administrators, marketing experts, or engineers, ProjectManager includes robust planning and reporting tools. Plan in sprints, assign due dates, collaborate with team members and track everything with just the click of a button. Plus, we have numerous ready-made project reports that can be generated instantly, including status reports, variance reports, timesheet reports and more.

Related Operations Management Content

• Operational Strategy: A Quick Guide
• Operations Management: Key Functions, Roles and Skills
• Operational Efficiency: A Quick Guide
• Using Operational Excellence to Be More Productive

Operational planning isn’t done in a silo, and it doesn’t work without the full weight of the team backing it up. Ensure that your department is successful at each benchmark. ProjectManager is an award-winning pm software dedicated to helping businesses smooth out their operational plans for a better year ahead. Sign up for our free 30-day trial today.

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More From Forbes

How to turn a corporate strategy into an operational plan.

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Kara Taylor is Vice President of Marketing at  ATTOM Data Solutions , where she oversees marketing, creative and public relations teams.

As the popular saying goes: A goal without a plan is just a wish. This applies to a corporate strategy. It can look great in a proverbial template, but it falls flat if there is no documented action plan or has lackluster leadership communication and employee buy-in.

Throughout my years in diversified executive marketing, public relations and e-commerce roles, I have seen how companies without strong management of their operational plans fail — primarily because team members are not aligned on shared objectives and, instead, are working independently on different objectives that do not impact the bottom line. Metaphorically speaking, they are all rowing the boat, but because each oar is rowing in a different direction, the boat goes nowhere, eventually sinking.

Let’s talk semantics for a minute. Some leadership teams use the words “strategy” and “plan” interchangeably, but I believe there is a marked difference between them, particularly when it comes to timeline perspective. Strategies are long-term goals for the company, while plans pertain more to the short-term objectives the company needs to meet in order to achieve the strategic goal. Strategy speaks to the overall how, while the plan is focused on the immediate what, which culminates in a series of steps. A lot of companies are great at strategy but fail at converting it into an actionable plan. It’s been my experience that the strongest operational plans outline the company’s annual, three-year and five-year goals.

At my company, ATTOM Data Solutions, we needed leads to effectively drive data license deals. I created a marketing framework that fed into the corporate strategy and tied our vision, mission and culture to our short-term, midterm and long-term goals. On paper, the plan looked great, but I knew that we, as an entire company, needed to make this plan a top priority. This started with ensuring every employee knew not only the goals but also the detailed plan. Both their alignment and their buy-in were key to turning our goals into realities.

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Here are my three top tips on turning a corporate strategy into a successful operational plan.

Step 1: Identify overall objectives, resources and measurements of success.

Think of your operational plan as a multitiered framework with high-level, long-term goals at the top and more detailed, short-term projects and action steps at the bottom.   It is an organizational management activity that addresses your company’s tactical objectives, resources and measurements of success, including:

• Setting priorities.

• Focusing resources and energy.

• Strengthening operations.

• Aligning employees around common goals.

• Getting collective buy-in on expected outcomes.

• Course-correcting as needed.

Step 2: Align the plan details with the strategic vision.

The framework links the vision to the details. Spec out each of the following in only one to three sentences:

• Vision: Identify a statement that focuses on tomorrow and what your company aspires to be in the future.

• Mission: Develop a statement that focuses on what you offer and who you serve today.

• Core Values: These define your DNA (what you stand for, traits and driving priorities). 

• Key Pillars: What goals (short term and long term) umbrella the entire plan and are the highest-level aspirations for the period ahead?

• Tactical Objectives: What specific action steps (tangible, measurable and prioritized) will move you toward your goals?

• Company Projects: What detailed activities will you work on that will utilize your resources? 

• Resource Planning: Show what resources you need to achieve tactical objectives and development projects.

• Project Evaluation: Your assessment should enable you to accurately track your metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs).

• Performance Management: Communication touch points provide opportunities to review current processes, adapt as needed and improve where appropriate. 

 Step 3: Prioritize and focus.

It is easy to get sidetracked or veer from the plan over time. Your employees need to know why following the plan is so important. Keep everyone aligned, and constantly communicate the goals to ensure everybody stays on track. A kickoff meeting is not enough; be sure to schedule pulse-check touch points throughout the implementation process, as well as a debrief meeting at the end.

Everyone wants to be a part of something that is bigger and moving in a direction they can believe in. Having a good strategy is important, but being able to run a company that supports the strategy and everyone working toward clear, shared goals and objectives can build real momentum and clarity in ways people can rally behind.

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Operations Strategy with Examples

Introduction.

Organizations rely upon different strategies to achieve their business goals and survive in today’s competitive business environment. These strategies are planned for the long-term and carry a broad range of activities. Generally, an organization develops three different strategies i.e. Corporate Strategy, Business strategy, and Operations or Functional strategy.

The corporate strategy revolves around the objectives of the organization, core competence, and gaining competitive advantage in terms of products and/or services. On the other hand, market segmentation and priorities that are based on a competitive market scenario for products/services come under the preview of business strategy.  Operations related activities fall under functional strategy as it includes operational tasks to develop products such as effective management of productivity, capability, flexibility, quality, production cost, delivery, etc.

Authors Slack and Lewis have defined Operations strategy as the whole system of decisions that are aimed at shaping both the long-term capabilities of operations irrespective of their type and their contribution to the overall strategy achievement.

In other words, operations strategy consists of a series of decisions that organizations take in order to implement competitive business strategies. Operations strategy supports in linking operational-level decisions i.e. both short-term and long-term, to corporate strategy. This is also considered a process of making key operations decisions by maintaining consistency with the overall objectives of the organization from a strategic point of view.

In the above diagram of operations strategy, there are two main elements i.e. Market requirements and Operations resources. Market requirements consist of performance-related goals such as quality, flexibility, time, cost, and dependability. Addressing the appropriate needs of customers through offerings and attracting customers as compared to the competitors; are the main concepts that influence performance objectives. Wherein, Operations resources cover an organization’s assets, processes, and capabilities.

In between these two, operations strategy lies that reconcile the available resources of an organization with the pre-determined performance objectives.

Competitive Capabilities and Core Competencies

The main focus of operations strategy is on specific capabilities related to the operation that facilitates an organization in gaining a competitive advantage. These capabilities are termed as competitive capabilities or priorities. An organization can get success in the market by getting excellence in such capabilities. In other words, competitive capabilities are those capabilities that are developed by operations function to provide a competitive advantage to an organization in its industry or market.

Business strategies act as a foundation for developing operations strategies. Few business strategies have a direct hold on manufacturing such as:

• Serving a defined product or service in a stable market
• Providing the high variety of a product and design customization to fulfill the particular requirement
• Use of in-built flexibility to offer quick market response and manufacturing of different products to maintain the level with the environmental changes

In order to obtain the above business strategies, an organization needs to focus on gaining productivity, low-cost advantage, quality, design-related constant innovation, and development of new products through the reduced development cycle.

Achieving a competitive market advantage and making core competencies are considered effective strategies. The strengths and unique resources of an organization are its core competencies that the organization should develop, practice, and improve constantly. Competence transforms into capability once the strategy is implemented successfully and pre-defined objectives related to competing are achieved.

Competitive advantage can be achieved by understanding the needs and desires of customers and providing the offerings accordingly. This includes finding out their preferred quality and cost of products, serving customers in a more effective way than competitors.

Operations Strategy- Competitive Priorities or Competitive Weapon

The main objective of any business is to secure a position through which it can attract more customers as compared to its competitors. To achieve this, Operations managers are supposed to work in close conjunction with marketing to understand the market’s competitive situation in which an organization is operating and identify the unique competencies in order to determine the important competitive priorities.

In making decisions related to the growth and survival of an organization, competitiveness plays a crucial role as it is related to the effectiveness of the organization in meeting customer requirements over its competitors, and hence, considered an important factor. For this, organizations depend upon their operational strengths and use them along with opportunities as their competitive weapons or Competitive priorities.

We’ve thoroughly explained the above competitive priorities with examples in a separate article here:

https://studiousguy.com/ competitive-prio…ns-with-examples /  ‎

Relationship between Corporate, Operations and Business Strategy

  In every organization, there is a unique mission statement that includes a range of long-term goals. This is termed as a corporate strategy as it contains the detailed description of the type of business that an organization desires to be in, the different type of customers that the organization will serve, the basic values and belief system of its business, and the goals and profitability, that are expected to be achieved.

Another long-term business plan similar to the corporate strategy is a business strategy that acts as a roadmap in order to achieve of fulfill the above-mentioned mission of corporate strategy. These long-term plans have to undergo different functions such as marketing, HR, production, finance, etc. Here the role of operations strategy comes in as its main function is to translate whole decision-related processes that facilitate business strategy.

It’s the responsibility of operations function to manage the resources required to produce products/services of the organization. To support the business strategy, operations strategy acts like a plan to specify the structure and usage of resources.  This consists of required skills and talents of the workforce, technology usage; size, location and type of available facilities, special equipment and processes required, and methods of quality control. So, operations strategy enables the organization to fulfill its long-term plan and for this, it must be aligned with the business strategy of the company.

Operations Strategy Development

Developing an operations strategy under the corporate strategy is explained through the above diagram. It indicates different factors that are included in operations strategy and the connection between the corporate strategy, business strategy, and Competitive priorities of operations strategy. In this, there is a direct connection of long-term strategic decisions of operations with new product development, facility establishment, introducing new technologies, determining product capacity, and suitable decision-making on developing and maintaining the quality of products.

With the help of operations strategy, an organization can translate its competitive priorities and product plans into processes related to decision-making. Decisions related to operations help in determining different processes for producing variety and volume of products.

Components of Operations Strategy

  Operations strategy consists of six main components or elements i.e.:

We’ve thoroughly explained the Components of Operations Strategy with examples in a separate article here:

https://studiousguy.com/ components-of-operations-strategy /  ‎

Example of Operations Strategy

Mcdonald’s operations strategy based on competitive priorities.

Fast-food giant McDonald’s business strategy is aimed at preparing food for its customers on the fast track and comparatively low competitive cost. It also includes earning profit by cost reduction of its products and expansion of its business across the world.

To meet the above organizational goals, the Operations strategies of McDonald’s play a vital role. The company is able to maintain and control all of its operational activities. Top management of the company develops its operations management strategies and the same are implemented by different branches of McDonald’s. Also, these operations strategies are circulated to other franchisee branches in a written format. Different operations managers allocated at different branches oversees the monitoring and controlling part of all operational activities.

Through the increased use of information technology, McDonald’s is able to introduce new ideas and ways to enhance its operational activities. Through its stock control database system, it is possible to avoid unnecessary ordering, and also, stock can be maintained up to date in the store. It has become easy to order the stock in less time.

-Competitive priorities (operations strategy) of McDonald’s

McDonald’s operations strategies are based on its competitive priorities that include the affordable and friendly cost of products, quality of products by offering many healthy meal options and superior quality services, speediness of services, flexibility, etc.

Speed or less service time

By considering the fact that customers seek fast delivery services as their top priority, McDonald’s started providing fast, accurate and friendly services to meet the demand of its customers. This enables the selling of the products at a reduced cost. Moreover, one of the reasons for the fast delivery of orders is that most of the products of McDonald’s are in the form of ready to serve as these have to put in the ovens of superior quality and usually, the order is ready within very few minutes.

McDonald’s has adopted different operations strategies to provide products to customers at a discounted price and to reduce the cost of its operations.

The company is using efficient equipment to enhance the speed of producing its products. McDonald’s uses fluorescent low consumption lighting that plays a crucial role in the cost reduction of operations. The use of cooking oil by the company in transport operations also contributes to reducing operations costs.

McDonald’s has also reduced operational costs by purchasing most of the vegetables (especially potatoes) directly from the farmers. This facilitated the company to reduce the cost associated with the production of chips.

Apart from the above, McDonald also has a low-cost supply chain system and they have incorporated a just-in-time strategy to reduce the cost related to wastage and unnecessary storage.

The service quality of McDonald’s can be measured through the time invested in processing orders and customer products. The policy of five Ps i.e. product, price, people, promotion, and the place has been applied by McDonald’s to enhance the quality of its services.

The product consists of quality, taste, and price of products of the company. To maintain food quality is always considered McDonald’s top preference.

McDonald’s staff (people) are well trained to serve customers in an efficient way. The company always takes the necessary steps to reduce its operation cost.

Place includes relevant, clean, surrounding areas with modern amities of McDonald’s such as restaurants, restrooms, or kitchen, etc. It aims at comfort level and safety for the customers.

Promotion is related to marketing and trust-building activities.

Moreover, there are three quality centers of McDonald’s in Asia, Europe, and North America. These quality centers ensure that different famous dishes of McDonald’s like French Fries, Big Macs, and Chicken McNuggets, etc. always meet their standards and a great level of taste. These centers are used by the company to provide training for suppliers and examine the quality of products for taste and consistency.

Flexibility

There are three forms of flexibility in McDonald’s i.e.

Mix flexibility: This includes producing a wide range of products through an operation so that customers can select from them.

Product or service flexibility:  This consists of generating new ideas or ways to incorporate in producing food items or services so that customers can find them more attractive.

Volume flexibility: In this, the adjustments are being made in the output level of McDonald’s in order to tackle the unexpected changes that occur in demand for products.

Manufacturing Strategies with Examples

To manufacture products, various types of competitive priorities are being used. Demand is the main criteria to choose or adopt systems in a manufacturing concern. Different production systems that are in current practice include:

• Batch production
• Customized production
• Mass production
• Assembling the products, testing, and supply.

For the above, the operations manager takes decisions related to which manufacturing strategies will be adopted as these strategies vary from industry to industry. The three main manufacturing strategies are as under:

Make-to-stock (MTS)

This is a conventional production strategy in which commodities or goods are produced on a large scale to meet the anticipated customer demand. In other words, Make-to-stock termed as producing goods for inventory according to demand forecasts. In this, organizations are required to keep a stock of finished products in order to deliver them to the customers on-demand or at the time of purchasing.

So, by adopting this manufacturing strategy, manufacturing organizations are able to deliver products on an immediate basis whenever the demand arises and this helps in minimizing the delivery time.  This strategy is more suitable for standardized products that are produced in bulk and the forecast is also accurate at a reasonable level.

For example, different products such as electronics, groceries, medicines, chemicals, etc. have demand in high volume. So, a Make-to-stock strategy is feasible in producing such products.

Assemble-to-order

In this manufacturing strategy, sub-assembly parts and components are kept as stock by manufacturers and parts are assembled into final customized goods or products according to the order placed by customers. The Assemble-to-order strategy depends on the organization’s ability to assemble and deliver products in a fast manner.

Different processes include in this strategy as fabrication processes, assembly processes, cleaning, painting, etc. To ensure the smooth functioning of these processes, a suitable inventory of sub-assembly parts is created.

For example, Dell Computer Company works on an assemble-to-order manufacturing strategy for its products such as laptops, personal computers (PCs). In this, customers are allowed to choose options from various available options for different parts of laptops or PC such as monitors, hardware, software, CPUs, processors, etc. as per their suitability. The system is assembled after receiving orders from customers and further delivery of the system is ensured.

Make-to-order (MTO)

The manufacturing strategy using which organizations produce products or offer services as per the specifications given by each customer; is termed as make-to-order strategy. This includes different processes according to customer requirements. Using this strategy, a high level of customization can be achieved which is considered one of the main competitive priorities. Both variety and flexibility can be offered by the company.

For example, some special medical equipment is manufactured as per the special demand from customers like hospitals, doctors, etc.  Similarly, the construction of a house is based on customer demand.

One more example is the manufacturing of special theme-based cakes that are customized to the specific demand of customers such as a birthday party theme, an anniversary celebration, an organization’s annual day or special event, etc.

Service Strategies

This includes producing less variety using processes that result in high volumes and customized forms. These are more customer-focused. For example, Both Apple and Dell companies are into offering products and services to their customers. Both companies provide IT-based products and also offer an after-sales service facility.

Global Strategies and Role of Operations Strategy

Organizations may adopt a global strategy of importing parts or services from abroad and counter domestic competitions at the corporate level. A global perspective is required to identify external environment threats and opportunities and evolve operations strategy.  Analyzing different other factors are also required such as market segmentation that includes psychological, demographic, and industry factors; also, the identification of different needs of goods, volume, delivery, etc.

Drafting a business strategy from a global point of view requires considering the global conditions and existing competencies, strengths, and weaknesses. Different factors such as existing competition, market potential, developmental factors i.e. social, political, economic, technological, etc. are part of global conditions and are considered at the time of defining the business strategy.

There are two main strategies that organizations adopt as a part of their global strategy i.e. strategic alliance and placing operations in a foreign market and after-sales service.

Strategic Alliance

When two parties or organizations enter into an agreement for promoting their products or services then it is considered as a strategic alliance and partners act as joint partners. Different main forms of the strategic alliance are:

Collaboration

Two companies are said to be into collaboration agreement when one company holds core competency in a specific product, joints with the other company that wants to promote the product in its country. So, rather than designing their own duplicate product, both companies collaborate for promoting the product based on their mutual interest. Also, to keep the product’s reputation, the local company follows the operations strategy of a collaborated company. A few examples of such companies are IBM, HP, etc.

Joint venture

This is considered as an agreement between two companies to produce products in joint form. Joint venture strategy supports in gaining foreign market access. In this, technology and expertise are supplied by an external company and required resources such as processing, operations, infrastructure, manpower, etc. are provided by the local company. Different car manufacturing companies like Honda, Maruti Suzuki, etc. have adopted this strategy.

Transfer of Technology and Licensing

Transfer of technology describes different processes using which movement of technological knowledge is possible between or within organizations.  This knowledge can be in different forms such as services and people, design and technical documents, etc. Wherein, licensing is related to a business agreement that allows an organization to grant permission to another organization for the manufacturing of its product on defined payment terms.

Placing Operations in Foreign Market and After Sales Service

In order to penetrate the new markets, organizations locate their manufacturing operation abroad. For this, companies are supposed to do a techno-economic survey in a detailed way before entering into foreign countries because of the political and economical environment, customer needs may be different and vary. Operations strategy may also be different than the current operations strategy of the company.  If the product is a standardized one, then its methodology and operations strategy can be similar. Domino’s Pizza, McDonald’s are a few examples of this.

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Learn how to do operational planning the right way

Some of this planning will be developed yearly—things like your yearly objectives and key results, for example, will naturally grow as time goes on. But to make sure you’re staying on track and executing against your long-term goals, you need an operational plan. 

What is operational planning?

Operational planning is the process of turning your strategic plan into a detailed map that outlines exactly what action your team will take on a weekly, or sometimes even daily, basis. An operational plan will include action items and milestones that each team or department needs to complete in order to execute your strategic plan. 

During the operational planning process, outline each team or person’s responsibilities for the next quarter, six months, or fiscal year. The level of detail and timeline you select for your operational plan should depend on how quickly your organization typically moves—if you’re a fast-paced team with an accelerated roadmap, consider creating an operational plan for the next quarter or half year. But if your organization tends to think more long-term, create an operational plan for the entire fiscal year.

Operational planning vs. strategic planning

A strategic plan is a business-level plan of your long-term strategy for the next three to five years. An operational plan is smaller in both scope and timeline. The goal of operational planning is to outline the daily actions you need to take to hit your strategic goals. 

Unlike a strategic plan, an operational plan should also focus on implementation . What daily and weekly actions does your team need to take in order to accomplish your longer-term strategic plan? What specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) do you need to track on a regular basis in order to ensure that your team is progressing towards your objectives? These details should be captured in your operational plan.

Who should create an operational plan?

To capture exactly who is doing what by when, an operational plan needs to be very detailed. For this reason, create an operational plan at a smaller scale than your strategic plan—both in terms of timeline and scope. Instead of trying to create an operational plan for your entire company, create one at the department or team level. At a larger company, you could even create an operational plan for a specific initiative—similar to a detailed work plan .

For example, create an operational plan to explain the daily tasks your IT department needs to do in order to support the company. Your IT department’s operational plan might include how frequently IT team members will check the IT requests project inbox , budgeting details for the program, how the IT team will onboard and equip new employees, and how frequently the team will meet. 

There are three levels to who should create an operational plan:

Scope: Your operational plan will capture the who, what, and when of each activity. It should be laser-focused on a team or initiative.

Timeline: Depending on how fast your organization moves, your operational plan should span a quarter, six months, or a fiscal year. 

Stakeholders: Make sure the people involved in operational planning are close to the work, so they can accurately project and predict what work should be included in the plan.

The benefits of operational planning

A strategic plan is a great way to proactively align your team around a shared purpose. By defining long-term goals, you can outline exactly where you want to go.

An operational plan helps you hit your strategic goals. According to our research, only 26% of knowledge workers have a very clear understanding of how their individual work relates to company goals. By creating a detail-oriented operational plan, you can define exactly what short-term goals you need to achieve in order to be on track towards your long-term objectives. It can help you think through the actions you’re currently taking or need to take in order to execute against your goals. 

In particular, an operational plan:

Clarifies exactly what your team will be doing on a weekly and daily basis.

Provides a comprehensive guide of the day-to-day operations your team members need to take in order to accomplish your long-term goals.

Sets a benchmark for daily expectations, so you can avoid getting off track.

5 steps to making an operational plan

During the operational planning process, you're not creating new plans or developing new goals. Rather, to create an operational plan, assess everything your team is currently working on and everything you need to do on a daily or weekly basis to hit your strategic goals. Here’s how:

1. Start with a strategic plan

If you haven’t already, create a strategic plan first. You need a long-term vision and goals before you can break down the day-to-day details. There are four steps to creating a strategic plan:

Determine your position

Develop your strategy

Build your strategic plan

Share, monitor, and manage your strategic plan

To learn more, read our article on strategic planning .

2. Narrow down your scope

In order to create a detail-oriented operational plan, you need to narrow the scope to a team, department, or focus area. The scope of your operational plan will depend on the size of your company.

For example, imagine you’re breaking down your strategic plan into action plans for various company departments. Your marketing team spans multiple functions—for example, design , product marketing, social media, content creation, and web promotion. To capture specific, daily functions within each team, you should create an operational action plan for each smaller team. 

3. Identify key stakeholders

Before creating an operational plan, decide who will be involved in the operational planning process. The team members creating the operational plan should be relatively close to the actions the plan describes. 

To continue our example, the design team’s operational plan should be created by the head of the design team and the team leads (depending on the size of the team). Once they’ve created their operational plan, the team should share the plan with the head of marketing for final approval.

4. Create the plan

Your operational plan explains the actions your team will take to achieve your goals within a set time frame. To create an operational plan, outline:

Your team’s objectives

The deliverables that will be achieved by the operational plan

Any desired outcomes or quality standards

Staffing and resource requirements , including your operating budget

How you will monitor and report on progress

If you’re struggling to figure out all the details that should be included in your operational plan, ask yourself the following questions: 

What do we need to accomplish? This information should come from your strategic plan or yearly goals.

What daily tasks do we need to complete in order to hit our goals? These can be daily tasks you’re currently doing or new work that needs to be kicked off.

Who are the people responsible for those tasks? Make sure each task has one owner so there’s no confusion about who to go to for questions or updates.

What are our metrics for success? If you haven’t already, make sure your goals follow the SMART framework . 

To continue our example, here’s the framework the design team might use to create their operational plan:

Part of the strategic plan for the marketing team is to increase share of voice in the market—which means more eyes on marketing materials and increased engagement with potential customers. To support these goals, the design team will: 

Create additional promotional materials for the social team

Revamp the website home page to attract more potential customers

To accomplish these two goals in the next year, the design team will:

Hire two new team members to focus on social media engagement

Partner with the web development team within the marketing department to create an interactive home page

To track and report on their progress, the design team will use Asana as their central source of truth for key performance metrics, including:

What designs they are creating

The level of engagement they’re getting on social media

The progress of the website update

This is just the framework the design team would use to create their operational plan. Bring this plan to life within a work management tool like Asana to share clarity on all of the work the team needs to do to hit their goals. With work management, every task can be tracked in real-time from inception to completion.

5. Share and update your operational plan

Once you’ve created the plan, share it with key stakeholders so they understand your team’s most important goals and the daily tasks it will take to get there. Manage your plan and updates in a shared tool that captures real-time progress, like Asana .

Like any element of project planning, things will inevitably change. Actively monitor your operational plan and report on progress so key stakeholders and team members can stay updated on how you’re tracking against your goals. Report on progress monthly through written status updates . 

Get started with operational planning

An operational plan can help you ensure you’re making progress on long-term goals. But in order for this plan to be effective, make sure you’re tracking your work in a centrally-accessible tool. Siloed information and goals don’t help anyone—instead, track your action items and goals in a work management tool.

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How Asana streamlines strategic planning with work management

Operations Strategy: Definition, Elements, and Advantages

All elements of your company’s operations–from the project planning and execution stages to sales and marketing–stem from having an effective operations strategy.

These are the critical decisions that key members of your company make about how your products and services will be positioned and ultimately delivered to guarantee the most customer satisfaction.

Without a strategy, the same processes cannot be utilized every time, guaranteed, which can allow your company to fall into disarray.

This guide will explain succinctly what an operations strategy is as well as detail the five most important elements. We’ll also share the benefits of such a strategy, so keep reading!

Table of Contents

What Is an Operations Strategy?

An operations strategy is a type of corporate strategy that can be defined as a set of principles or rules that guide your company’s operational decision-making in all the business choices you make.

It’s an outline and a breakdown of how your business obtains the materials that go into your products and services, which suppliers and distributors you work with, what it takes to design and manufacture products, and what the product delivery process looks like in every operation to meet business objectives.

It’s an overall business strategy that your company can rely on time and again when new operations are afoot. It is also a tool for analyzing the success of your current plan and then executing operations to maximize their effectiveness.

Operational strategies align with a company’s core competency strategy and allow it to devise measures to save time and money. For instance, maybe they cut out a middleman here or begin doing something themselves there.

The outcome remains the same — happy customers receive the products they ordered. With a customer-driven operational strategy, getting from Point A to Point B can be optimized for efficiency and cost-effectiveness. 

The Elements of an Operations Strategy

What kinds of elements should go into a working operational strategy? Here are five of them.

What kinds of resources are needed to pull operations function together according to the rules outlined in the strategy? Resources include any and every kind, including human, mechanical, and locational resources. Companies usually factor in the resources that are already available to them when compiling this element of their operational strategy.

However, depending on the budget, further resources could be purchased or otherwise acquired and then factor into the strategy as well.

No strategy worth its salt omits technology. We’re asking you to think beyond the scope of office computers running software and take this line of thinking a little bit deeper.

For instance, marketing forecast tools are an excellent example of the technology that helps operational strategies in risk management and meet customer demand. Production line automation is a more advanced means of technology that’s equally as important as machine learning and artificial intelligence. 

Through machine learning, a system can become more intuitively intelligent, cutting down on extraneous processes and maximizing output given time.

An industry-specific software like the brewery operations solution Ollie will be your best friend when it comes to tracking the popularity of products that connect best with your customers. Similarly, customer service software will help you manage customer interactions, raise tickets, and resolve issues efficiently, giving you a competitive edge. 

Products/Services

All parts of the strategy are to make producing a service or product a more expedient process. Thus, a company will gauge the lifecycle of the average product or service under its name as well as review market trends to determine what the lifecycle of the latest product looks like.

Modifying the product or service according to these data is the key to making goods more efficient.

Read also: The Hidden Dangers of Overstocking And How to Avoid Them

What kind of production facilities does your company have available for the manufacturing of products or services? Are all the facilities in operable condition ? More so, do they have an inventory management system, safety guidelines and protocols, and clear, reachable production goals?

These are all needed as part of your company’s strategic plan.

Production System

Most important of all is having a production system in place, as this system is used for resource planning in both the interim and longer term. The best production systems consider supply chain management, quality control benchmarks, and workflows.

Read also: How to Master Modern Marketing Strategy Like Netflix

Types of Operations Strategy 

Organizations can utilize several types of operations strategies depending on their goals and needs. Here are some.

Core Competencies Strategy

Core competencies strategies focus on the organization’s strengths and competitive advantages. These strengths can be employees, work culture, best-selling products, resource management, brand equity, etc. These strategies plan to better utilize these strengths while trying to improve upon or minimize the effects of the weaknesses.

Outsourcing Strategy

The outsourcing strategy complements the core competencies strategy well. With an outsourcing strategy, an organization focuses more resources on its strengths while outsourcing its weak areas to other individuals or companies. 

Competitive Priorities Strategy

Competitive priority strategies focus on an organization’s specific capabilities that will differentiate it in the market. Some of the competitive priorities an organization can focus on are cost, quality, flexibility, innovativeness, and delivery performance. It’s challenging to give equal attention to each aspect so companies often prioritize which ones to focus on. 

Corporate Strategies

A corporate strategy is an overall strategy that focuses on a company’s long-term goals. Depending on the goals, which can be growth, expansion, sustainability, etc., this strategy can focus on market research, allocating resources, partnerships, etc. 

Cost-Driven Strategies

Cost-driven strategies focus on optimizing the production process and other operational processes to minimize the cost of the product so that more people buy it. This strategy targets price-sensitive customers who prioritize affordability over brand loyalty or additional features. 

Read also: 9 Customer Management Strategies to Supercharge Customer Loyalty

The Advantages of Having an Operations Strategy

Putting together an operations strategy isn’t an overnight process, but it’s worth expending time and effort into creating. Here are some benefits of doing such.

Helps to break down department silos

If your company has many departments that rarely intersect, an operational strategy will help create a more seamless cohesion between departments when the need arises.

These departments will have a roadmap to follow to work together. When everyone works as a unit, operational efficiency increases, and they can produce more comprehensively while achieving key performance indicators, thus boosting revenue.

Read also: 7 Proven Ways to Defeat Silo Mentality at the Workplace

Makes better utilization of resources

Resources are precious things and should be treated as such. To allocate resources wisely and ensure that nothing is wasted, an operational strategy comes very much in handy.

Resources can be redirected, canceled, increased, or reduced depending on the needs of the operations of your business. The costs of certain resources can be more clearly understood as well, which will help cut down on any needless waste.

Boosts efficiency and productivity

Employees are also bolstered by a strong operations strategy. A good strategy made by an operations manager significantly improves project management by providing a clear framework and direction. Each employee division will have clear-cut goals to abide by and team managers who will guide these divisions to success.

The overarching organizational goals will keep teams motivated to do their best and work cooperatively with others as they have to. Employees will use their skills and time better than they have in the past, increasing output, working more efficiently, and feeling like they’re doing more fulfilling work. This will directly contribute to a better customer experience as fulfilled employees will deliver better work quality.

Read also: Operational CRM — A Complete Guide (+7 Best Tools)

Operations strategies are crucial in planning out your business processes from start to finish. If you need additional training, an executive education can help you with business operations strategy. The specifics of operations strategies will vary, but they should follow the basic guidelines that we outlined in this blog post.

By putting together an operational strategy focused on continuous improvement, you’re investing not only in the present but the future of your company as well. That’s a decision that all employees and staff can feel good about 🙂

If you’re looking for an all-in-one marketing automation and sales CRM to keep track of your business operations, check out EngageBay.

Content updated for freshness and SEO by  Swastik Sahu .

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Nicole Malczan

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Operations strategy: definition and impact on projects

It’s one thing to have an overall vision for a successful, impassioned business endeavor. It’s another thing entirely to determine how to plan and choreograph the various moving parts of people, processes, and products to achieve that business’s original goals and mission. Having outstanding talent on your team or producing a great product is simply not enough, especially in today’s competitive marketplace, which is why your operations strategy is the key to business success.

So what is an operations strategy, and how can it have a make-or-break impact on your business’s growth? Let’s take a look at the many components operations managers need to consider to maintain a competitive edge over the competition and ensure the delivery of quality goods and services while keeping their customers satisfied and building toward the company’s overall mission.

“Operations strategy” is a part of our Project Management Glossary — check out the full list of terms and definitions!

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What is operations strategy.

An operations strategy refers to the system an organization implements to achieve its long-term goals and mission. It involves decisions based on multiple factors, including product management , supply chain, inventory, forecasting, scheduling, quality, and facilities planning and management.  For service providers, operations strategy concerns financing, marketing, human resources, and service that matches the company’s goal and mission.

When creating an operations strategy, facets of your business such as management of resources  play a large role in shaping how processes are completed, along with who completes them. There are also elements of project management  that must be considered, including any limitations relating to logistics, market situations, or team collaboration. While these factors are part of the daily operations of your business, they must still align with the company’s overall mission.

How does operations strategy fit into daily project needs

Since an operations strategy requires multiple factors that must all be considered in concert with each other, creating one demands an eagle-eye view of the company as a whole. In a product-oriented business structure, the daily concerns of an operation strategy include everything from procurement of raw materials to the final logistics involved with delivering a product to the end-user. It also factors in staff, product development, quality assurance and issues, plant capabilities, and forecasting models that focus on long-term objectives.

As your team works to meet company goals, there needs to be a strategy in place for everything from the suppliers they work with to the applications and software they use to accomplish tasks. When these processes work together seamlessly, a well-planned operations strategy is often the reason.

How an effective operations strategy can positively impact your project

Michael Porter, professor and director of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School, wrote , “The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” An effective and successful operations strategy must consider the strengths and opportunities of the business but also fully accept the limitations and challenges it faces.

Putting together an operational plan  can help you define company goals and create a detailed outline for how each employee, team, or department contributes to them. If your business strategy is well executed, this operational plan can be fine-tuned over time to factor in changes that might occur along the way.

Your operations strategy is a vital component to the health of your business, and should be a consistently evolving mechanism to sharpen your company’s focus and drive growth.

Benefits of a cohesive collection of operations strategies

A cohesive operations strategy requires a consistent practice of reflection on what has worked (or not worked) in the past. It also must foster the alignment of people, processes, and products with the company’s overall mission to ensure long-term sustainability and growth. If your operations are planned while focusing on your corporate strategy and overall mission, this alignment will naturally occur.

5 types of operations strategies

There are five different types of operations strategies  that can be used based on a company’s business model and long-term goals. They are outlined below, along with a few details about how these strategies are put into place.

• Core competency strategies:  This strategy involves identifying the core business practices within your company that can leverage existing strength to maximize profitability. If your company has established a reputation for providing high-quality goods and services that are consistent, this core competency could remain a long-term strategy that ensures sustainable growth.
• Corporate strategies:  This strategy is most concerned with your company’s mission statement and involves developing production initiatives, key performance indicators (KPIs), and decision-making processes that will help reach the desired mission. Your teams will then work to implement these initiatives and processes, which can be measured and analyzed for necessary changes that should take place.
• Competitive strategies:  This strategy involves distinguishing your business from others in the same space, and requires consideration of what your competitors are doing. Your strategy would then consist of finding quantifiable ways to differentiate your business and set it apart from the rest.
• Product or service strategies:  This strategy requires focus on quality control of existing products or services, as well as development of new offerings. Product managers have a key role to play in this approach.
• Customer-driven strategies:  This strategy is all about the customer’s experience, and all operational decisions are determined by looking at it. Your sales and marketing will likely drive this strategy, which involves engaging your customers and altering your strategy based on their feedback.

Execute winning operations strategies with monday.com

From automating routine tasks to accessing multiple collaborative tools through one interface, monday.com streamlines various operational processes to facilitate better use of your valuable resources. Our Work OS brings teams together, whether working remotely or in a shared physical location, and provides tools for project managers to track performance and ensure deadlines are met.

Frequently asked questions

What is operations strategy in operations management.

Operations management involves the planning and production of goods or services offered by a business, and requires careful planning in the form of an operations strategy. An effective management strategy involves determining how labor, materials, and technology can be best harnessed for efficient output.

What are the 4 competitive priorities in an operations strategy?

The four competitive priorities for operations strategy and management include cost, quality, flexibility, and speed. Consideration and strategy concerning how to stand apart from the competition in some or all of these will drive your company’s growth and continued success.

What does a strategy and operations manager do?

A strategy and operations manager looks at the resources a company has at its disposal and determines how to best manage those resources to achieve long-term sustainability. The manager then uses data collection and metrics for changing operations strategies to achieve greater productivity while reducing costs and driving customer service.

The importance of operations strategies

Your operations strategy is a vital component to the health of your business, and should be a consistently evolving mechanism to sharpen your company’s focus and drive growth. Streamlining your daily operations and communications through monday.com’s platform gives you the tools you need to keep all the moving parts organized and accountable, ensuring everyone is on the same page with your operational strategy.

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Operational Plan Template

About the Operational Plan Template 

An operational plan template will help you build a plan—a clear roadmap that helps operations leaders close the gap between business goals and day-to-day operations.  Our Cascade Operational Plan template will give you a tested and proven process so you can connect employees with the business strategy and give them a clear guide for execution. Using this template, you’ll be able to set clear strategic goals, milestones, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor if you’re heading in the right direction.

What You’ll Get In This Operational Plan Template

This template is pre-filled with examples, which you can use as inspiration for your own operational plan.

Within seconds of setting up your template, you’ll get immediate access to: 

• 4x Operational Focus Areas
• 12x Operational Objectives
• 20x Operational Projects
• 25x Operational key performance indicators (KPIs)

Once you have set your template, you can also create up to two dashboards for real-time performance monitoring.  And yes - you get free access with no credit card required. ✅

Who Is This Operational Plan Template For?

This template is perfect for CEOs, operational leaders, and operations teams who need to build their own operational plan. You can use this template regardless of the size of your organization, whether you are an enterprise, a mid-sized business, a small business, a startup, or a nonprofit. Note for Cascade users : If you already have a business plan in Cascade, you can easily link your operational plan to the company’s overall strategic plan and show how your activities contribute to the company’s success.

How Do You Use an Operational Plan Template? 

Cascade’s strategic planning tool is perfect to create and share your operational plan. Get started by selecting this operational plan template. This simple template will help you build your strategic plan in real-time and takes only minutes to set up. You can adjust pre-filled fields or enter your own data. A completed plan can be exported, or you can bring in your team to collaborate on shared goals.  To give you an idea of how you can build your own operational plan using our template, here’s a simple step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Identify the gap between your current and desired performance  

Before you set your strategic goals, you need to have a clear understanding of where your business operations stand today and where they need to be in the future. This will help you formulate a better strategy for operations and communicate strategic priorities to your teams. To help you with this step, here’s a guide on how to conduct a gap analysis .

Step 2: Choose your focus areas 

After formulating your operations strategy , you should have a clear picture of your strategic priorities. In this template, you can organize them from a departmental perspective or focus on narrower interdepartmental perspectives.  Examples of focus areas for an operational plan could be:

• Administration
• Human Resources

Step 3: Write down your strategic objectives 

The next step is to identify strategic objectives within each focus area. These are the outcomes you need to achieve to support your business’s strategy. You can follow the SMART method or check out this detailed guide on how to write strategic objectives .

Examples of strategic objectives for the IT and logistics focus area could be: 

• Improve overall organizational efficiency
• Speed up development time through optimal project management
• Automate the order management

Step 4: Set KPIs to measure progress

Objectives aren’t the only component of your strategic plan that can be measured and tracked; you also need to set quantitative KPIs to measure whether you have actually achieved your objectives.  For example, some potential operations KPIs are:

• Absenteeism rate
• Sales per region
• Urgent transportation costs
• Production downtime

Step 5: Lay out an action plan that will help you achieve your objectives

The action plan includes activities that you and your team members will be doing to achieve strategic objectives. These can include specific tasks or projects . You can also use this template to give actions owners, collaborators, key milestones, and due dates. 

Step 6: Add all the information in your template and start executing  

You’ve done the heavy lifting; now it’s time to execute your plan. Put all your information into the template and start delivering results. You can use Cascade’s governance features, which will help you manage risks, monitor progress, and drive execution across your organization:

• Dashboards ​​with chart widgets and graphs that have real-time data, allowing you to look back and understand what has happened in selected time frames.  
• Reports to create in-depth progress reports with an executive summary, financial summary, or commentary so you can ensure everyone understands the context.
• Integrations with your favorite business tools and project management apps so you import data from almost anywhere and visualize them all in one place. 

Getting started with your Operational Plan Template only takes 20 seconds .

What Are The Benefits Of An Operational Plan Template?

✅ It gives structure to your planning process: A template can’t save you from bad strategy and lack of insight into what problem you are trying to solve. However, once you get there, you need to give your plan structure so you can easily communicate it with your board and team members. This will help you ensure that everyone is on the same page with regard to priorities and what needs to be done to achieve goals.  ✅ It saves your time : Bring in your team members and get regular progress updates on your operational plan without wasting time in another meeting. You won't have to switch between different spreadsheets and data sources to make powerful reports. You’ll have all the important information in one place, at any given time - to make fast and informed decisions.   ✅ It supports strategic alignment : With this template, you will be able to support cross-collaboration and demonstrate how different company functions come together to achieve the company’s goals. You’ll also have better visibility into how you need to allocate your resources and make financial projections.  ✅ It helps you keep team members accountable for progress : You can easily assign owners to each objective or crucial initiative. This will help you boost engagement and transparency and motivate your team to focus on work that moves the needle. And that’s not all. When it’s super clear who does what and why, duplication of work is diminished.  This frees your teams to focus on innovation and continuous improvement.  ✅ It helps you build resilient operations and quickly adapt plans if needed : As an operations leader, you need to have full visibility into your company’s performance. Cascade’s Operational Plan Template will help you quickly identify underperforming areas, move resources, and take corrective action before it’s too late.

Build And Execute Your Operational Plan With Cascade 🚀

Operational excellence depends on many factors. That’s why it’s critical to have the right tools and a bulletproof operational plan to help guide your team, ensure all stakeholders are on the same page, find potential risks and issues early on, and adapt as fast as possible when disruptions occur. This is where outdated and static tools like Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint docs simply don’t cut it anymore.  Put your operational plan into action with Cascade’s strategy execution platform, and you’ll be able to:

• Provide fast and accurate data for decision-making.
• Improve business performance as a result of increased operational efficiency.
• Align your key stakeholders and create an organization that is able to adapt and meet customers’ changing needs.  
• Build a standardized process for strategy execution across divisional units and functional areas.
• Create a single source of truth so you’ll have full visibility in performance and a better ability to grow and scale quickly.  

Whether you need a tool to track KPIs, assign owners to key initiatives, or make faster reports to support management decision-making, Cascade is the answer for you.  And the best part - it’s free. ‍

Other Types Of Operational Plan Examples In Our Template Library 

Didn’t find what you were looking for? Here’s a selection of other popular templates in our template library that you can choose from: 

A Business Plan Template 

This business plan or business strategy template will help you outline long-term company goals and a roadmap to achieve them. Unlike the operational plan, it focuses on long-term and high-level business goals to achieve the company’s mission and vision.

Human Resources Strategy Template 

If you are an HR manager, this template will help you prioritize your HR initiatives to support business goals. You’ll be able to outline your hiring plan or other key projects, assign owners, and track progress.

Financial Strategy Template 

Are you a chief financial officer looking to create a plan for your department to support business strategy? This planning template will help you define capital allocation and investment strategies and keep track of your progress. 

Is Cascade operational plan template free? 

Yes - you get free access forever! You can bring in your team members and collaborate on a free plan that is suitable for teams with up to four members.

What is an operational plan template? 

An operational plan template is a preset document that gives you a standardized planning approach and helps you align daily operations with business strategy and long-term objectives. 

How do you write an operational plan? 

Your planning process should involve collaboration with key stakeholders, alignment with the company’s strategic goals, and identifying opportunities for improvement.

What is included in an operational plan? 

The key elements of an operation plan include focus areas, objectives, key projects and initiatives, metrics and KPIs, and owners. 

What is the difference between an operational plan and a business plan? 

A business plan focuses on high-level business strategy and long-term strategic planning. On the other hand, an operational plan focuses on short-term goals and activities happening on a daily basis and helps companies bridge the gap between business strategy and on-the-ground execution. 

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How Marketing Operations Transform Your Marketing Strategy

Sudarshan Somanathan

Head of Content

September 22, 2024

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In the past, marketing operations were often viewed as just overseeing people and projects within the marketing team. But now, we’re in a new era where state-of-the-art marketing technology (also called MarTech) and customer data are shaping marketing strategy.

The days of catchy jingles and big personalities in ads are not enough. Now, data collection, analysis, and its impact on sales are taking a front seat for marketers.

Creativity and innovation will always lead, but you need marketing operations to measure efforts and reach marketing goals more quickly. And so the marketing department cannot simply not do without solid marketing operations.

In this blog, we will explore the marketing operations vertical in-depth, understand why it is essential, how to develop a marketing operations strategy, and tools that can support your marketing ops. 🔎

What is Marketing Operations?

Why is marketing operations important, i. project management in marketing operations, ii. data management in marketing operations, iii. performance management in marketing operations, iv. process development in marketing operations, streamlined processes and increased efficiency, data-driven decision-making and improved roi, collaboration and alignment, scalability and growth, step #1: define your goals and objectives, step #2: identify your stakeholders and needs, step #3: conduct a marketing operations audit, step #4: develop a marketing technology stack, step #5: refine and standardize your marketing processes, step #6: establish clear communication and collaboration, step #7: implement performance measurement and reporting, step #8: continuously evaluate and improve.

Marketing Operations (MOps) is the end-to-end management and optimization of a business’s marketing processes. Marketing operations professionals leverage processes, technology, and data to support marketing activities and align their results with business goals.

Essentially, an effective marketing operations strategy serves as the backbone of a high-performing marketing team. 

From data cleaning to MarTech (marketing technology), allocating resources to overseeing projects, MOps sets your marketing roadmap on autopilot—to a certain extent. 

Different Roles of Marketing Operations

Marketing operations involves the following functions to bring the best out of marketing teams:

• Marketing strategy: Assist marketers with strategy, budgeting, execution, and performance evaluation for all marketing activities
• Process optimization: Streamline marketing programs through efficient processes and automation
• MarTech leadership: Evaluate, select, and manage marketing tools, ensuring they align with business objectives. Train users, manage vendor relationships, and monitor performance metrics to optimize marketing efforts
• Data-driven insights: Track key performance indicators to measure campaign success and ROI. Share insights with stakeholders to demonstrate value, inform future campaigns, and refine marketing strategy
• Content management: Manage content assets and metadata to ensure consistent brand messaging
• Brand compliance: Maintain brand standards and adhere to regulations like GDPR
• Lead management: Guide leads through the customer journey and attribute conversions to specific marketing initiatives

👉 Here’s a quick example: A clothing brand’s marketing team was struggling to keep up with its growing consumer base. Campaigns were launched but without clear objectives. The customer data was scattered, and there was limited coordination between marketing, sales, and customer support teams. 

After incorporating marketing operations into their workflow, they were able to: 

• Drive decisions with data: Leverage data analytics to inform marketing strategies and optimize campaign performance
• Automate workflows: Use marketing automation tools to streamline repetitive tasks and improve efficiency
• Integrate a technology stack: Implement a cohesive suite of marketing technology tools to enhance collaboration and data management
• Follow a customer-centric approach: Focus on delivering personalized experiences to consumers based on their preferences and behavior

As a result, the company experiences improved campaign performance, increased customer satisfaction, and higher ROI.

Marketing operations enable an analytical approach towards marketing strategies and spending . This allows businesses to directly measure the return on investment of their marketing activities and understand their impact on the bottom line. Here’s how:

Improved marketing alignment

• Involvement in business planning: Engaging marketers in the early stages of business planning ensures their alignment with the company’s broader objectives
• Setting SMART goals: MOps helps marketers set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals that directly relate to revenue
• Effective marketing resource management: Based on goals and KPIs, team leaders can allocate marketing resources effectively to maximize marketing ROI 

Increased efficiency and productivity

• Streamlined workflows: A marketing operations team can establish standardized workflows to identify and eliminate bottlenecks in processes and focus on high-impact activities
• Automate tasks: With automation tools, marketing teams can minimize manual processes and accelerate campaign performance. This reduces the likelihood of errors and lets marketing teams rely on accurate outcomes
• Improved collaboration: Marketing and sales teams can communicate better with shared objectives and clear channels. This bridges gaps that affect campaign performance, leading to increased marketing productivity

Data-driven decision-making

• Data quality and completeness: MOps teams can implement comprehensive data governance to define policies, conduct audits to identify inaccuracies, and ensure data integrity
• Robust data framework: Once the marketing team defines KPIs, the marketing ops team can capture necessary data gathering, ensuring that organizations have access to clean, relevant data for analysis
• Data management automation: With advanced data management tools and technologies, MOps can automate data collection, validation, and cleansing processes

All these marketing efforts collectively lead to informed decision-making, enhanced efficiency, cost savings, strong customer relationships, and a competitive advantage for businesses.

Key Functions in Marketing Operations

Marketing operations encompass several key functions that bring productivity, alignment, and performance within an organization’s marketing efforts. 

Here are some of them: 

Project management in marketing operations plays a crucial role in providing a structure to marketing campaign planning . 

Here are the key aspects of project management within marketing efforts: 

• Planning and strategizing: Developing comprehensive marketing project plans, assigning tasks, and setting timelines
• Coordination: Ensuring seamless collaboration with marketing and other departments to align goals, processes, and communication channels
• Risk management: Identifying potential risks and developing strategies to mitigate them
• Optimizing process workflows: Evaluating and refining processes to improve efficiency
• Monitoring and reporting: Tracking project progress, measuring performance, and providing regular updates

💡Tip: Start with a roadmap and follow project progression from start to finish with marketing calendar templates .

How ClickUp Project Management can help you succeed

ClickUp Project Management can significantly streamline and improve your marketing operations with a wide range of features designed to enhance efficiency, collaboration, and productivity.

Here’s how ClickUp can benefit your marketing team:

• Centralized project management: Manage all your marketing projects, tasks, and assignments in one place
• Task management: Create tasks, assign them to team members, set due dates, and track progress
• Customizable workflows: Create workflows that align with your specific marketing processes, ensuring consistency and efficiency
• Time tracking: Accurately monitor time spent on projects, helping you optimize resource allocation and budgeting
• Collaboration features: Facilitate teamwork and communication through features like comments, discussions, and shared files
• Automation: Automate repetitive tasks, such as sending email reminders or updating project statuses, saving time and reducing errors
• Reporting and analytics: Generate reports on project performance, team productivity, and resource utilization

With ClickUp, marketing teams can improve project planning and execution efficiency to achieve their overall goals. 

Read more: Check out the best marketing project management software remote and in-house teams use to design cross-functional workflows.

Data management in marketing operations ensures data collection, storage, quality assurance, and governance to support decision-making . With accurate and accessible data, businesses can make decisions based on reliable information. 

Key aspects of data management in marketing:

• Data collection: Gathering data from various sources, including CRM systems, analytics tools, social media platforms, and surveys
• Data cleaning and organization: Ensuring data accuracy, consistency, and completeness
• Data storage: Organizing data into relevant categories for easier access and analysis
• Data analysis: Analyzing campaign performance, and monitoring trends to optimize future strategies 
• Data visualization: Creating visual representations of data for easy interpretation

How ClickUp Dashboards can help in data management

ClickUp Dashboards helps to visualize marketing data in a flexible canvas of data, lists, cards, charts, and graphs. Here are some ways ClickUp Dashboards can benefit your marketing operations with data management:

• Boost marketing engagement and reach: Track the success of key marketing initiatives in one place. Monitor content performance and the number of marketing leads generated 
• Align leads with sales: Use a customized sales dashboard to track lead-to-sale conversions. Make informed decisions quickly and celebrate your successes
• Retain customers with dedicated CRM dashboards: Identify your riskiest customer groups, analyze potential reasons for customer churn, and forecast revenue across different regions and teams

Before ClickUp, our previous approach to project management felt very fragmented. Many of the systems we had were overly complex, which resulted in a lot of back and forth in meetings to gain visibility into project progress.

Performance management in marketing operations ensures that marketing efforts are aligned with business objectives and deliver desired results. It involves setting goals, tracking progress, measuring outcomes, and making data-driven adjustments.

Key aspects of performance management in marketing:

• Setting goals: Establishing clear and measurable marketing objectives that align with overall business strategies
• Tracking progress: Monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess performance against goals
• Measuring outcomes: Quantifying the impact of marketing activities on business results, such as revenue, customer acquisition, and brand awareness
• Benchmarking: Comparing performance against industry standards or competitors
• Reporting: Providing regular updates on performance to stakeholders

How ClickUp Goals and Reporting can help with performance management

ClickUp Goals and ClickUp Reporting offer powerful tools for tracking and measuring marketing performance.

Here are a few ClickUp Goals features:

• Setting goals: Create specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for your marketing initiatives
• Tracking progress: Monitor progress towards goals and receive notifications when milestones are achieved
• Celebrating achievements: Recognize and reward team members for reaching goals

Here are a few ClickUp Reporting features:

• Creating custom reports: Generate reports on various aspects of marketing performance, such as campaign effectiveness, team productivity, and ROI
• Visualizing data: Use graphs, charts, and other visualizations to make data more understandable
• Sharing insights: Share reports with stakeholders to communicate key findings and demonstrate the impact of marketing efforts

Using ClickUp Goals and Reporting, marketing teams can effectively track performance, identify areas for improvement, and demonstrate the value of their work to stakeholders.

Process development in marketing operations focuses on creating and optimizing workflows to maximize efficiency and effectiveness. It involves identifying bottlenecks, streamlining tasks, and ensuring consistency throughout the marketing lifecycle.

Key aspects of process development in marketing:

• Identifying bottlenecks: Pinpoint areas in your workflow that are causing delays or inefficiencies
• Standardizing workflows: Develop clear and consistent procedures for various marketing activities
• Optimizing processes: Utilize technology and automation to streamline tasks
• Continuous improvement: Regularly review and refine processes based on data and feedback
• Collaboration: Enable effective communication and collaboration among team members

ClickUp offers a suite of features that can significantly enhance your marketing process development. Let’s explore them together. 

ClickUp Marketing

ClickUp Marketing is designed to empower marketing teams with the tools to plan, create, manage, and execute campaigns quickly. ClickUp AI , along with ClickUp’s project management capabilities and collaborative features, makes it a valuable asset for any marketing team looking to enhance its operations.

Key features that make ClickUp Marketing a valuable software for marketing operations :

• Campaign and content creation: Streamline the creative process and reduce the time required for content development. Launch initiatives quickly with ClickUp AI, your own writing assistant
• Collaboration features: Facilitate teamwork and communication through @mentions, comments, real-time notifications, and shared files
• Data management and analytics: Track key performance indicators, generate reports, and measure campaign success 
• Integration with other marketing tools: Connect ClickUp with over 200+ tools for a seamless workflow

💡Pro Tip: Learn how ClickUp’s marketing team uses ClickUp to optimize its marketing operations 

ClickUp also offers a bunch of pre-built templates that can ramp up your marketing ops efforts. Let’s look at a few. 

ClickUp Marketing Team Operations Template

ClickUp Marketing Team Operations Template is a pre-built solution for establishing marketing operations management. Contribute to an organized marketing operations strategy by bringing clarity to each member’s role in a marketing team. 

How can this template help marketing ops teams?

• Improved task management: Organize tasks, projects, and campaigns effectively, ensuring all team members are aligned and aware of their responsibilities
• Clarity on current operations: Get a clear overview of current operations, enabling teams to understand ongoing tasks and projects
• Collaborative workspaces: Foster collaboration across departments, connecting various teams, and facilitating better communication

ClickUp Marketing Team Process Template

The ClickUp Marketing Team Processes Template focuses on standardizing workflows in a marketing ops team with centralized planning, collaborative features, and custom views for leaders. 

How can this template help a marketing operations manager?

• Centralized planning: Plan and visualize all marketing processes in one place, ensuring that every team member is aware of their tasks and responsibilities
• Progress tracking: Track progress and goals in a single dashboard, ensuring that all marketing activities are delivered on time
• Improved onboarding: By standardizing processes, marketing operations managers can empower new team members to quickly get up to speed with in-house marketing ops

📑Also read: 10 Best Campaign Management Software Tools in 2024

ClickUp Docs

ClickUp Docs acts as a foundation for your marketing ops team to collaborate on ideas in real time and accelerate execution. Here’s how:

• Establish clear guidelines: Outline specific steps, responsibilities, and decision-making criteria for each process, ensuring consistency and clarity
• Promote knowledge sharing: Centralize important information, making it easily accessible to all team members and reducing the risk of knowledge silos
• Track changes: Utilize version control to track changes made to documents, ensuring transparency and accountability
• Link to related tasks: Connect Docs to relevant tasks within your projects, providing a comprehensive overview of processes and their associated activities

ClickUp Automations

Finally , ClickUp Automations effortlessly allows you to tackle routine tasks, manage project handoffs, and streamline workflows within marketing processes to save time and improve efficiency.

• Trigger actions based on events: Automatically trigger actions when specific conditions are met, such as assigning tasks, updating statuses, or sending notifications
• Streamline workflows: Automate repetitive tasks, such as sending email reminders or moving projects to different stages based on completion
• Reduce manual errors: Minimize human error by automating tasks that are prone to mistakes
• Improve efficiency: Free up your team’s time to focus on more strategic tasks by automating routine activities

There are numerous AI marketing tools that can further streamline your marketing workflows and boost your efficiency. 

These tools assist with tasks such as generating marketing plans, optimizing content, and managing social media campaigns. 

However, ClickUp ensures you can do all things—from project management to marketing ops under one roof. No need to switch anymore. While we have laid out the foundation for marketing ops, we will now also deep dive into how this function contributes to revenue and business growth.

ClickUp has been instrumental in changing the way we work at Seequent. Without it, we would still be struggling to find where information should live and how we should communicate. I love using ClickUp. I live in it, and the team loves it.

How Marketing Operations Drive Business Growth

Marketing operations play a crucial role in driving business success. It’s the behind-the-scenes engine that optimizes your marketing efforts, leading to increased efficiency, improved ROI, and, ultimately, enhanced business growth. 

Here’s how:

• Standardization: Marketing operations establish transparent and standardized workflows for everyday marketing activities. This eliminates confusion, reduces redundancies, and saves valuable time for your marketing team. Tools like ClickUp can be used to create process templates that ensure consistency across projects
• Automation: Marketing operations leverage automation tools to streamline workflows, and free up your team to focus on strategic initiatives 
• Data collection and analysis: Marketing operations ensure proper data collection and analysis from various sources. This provides valuable insights into customer behavior, campaign performance, and market trends. ClickUp Dashboards help you visualize this data to identify key trends and make data-driven decisions
• Performance measurement: Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) allows you to measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and identify areas for improvement. This helps you allocate resources effectively and optimize your marketing budget for better ROI
• Break down silos: Marketing operations help build an effective marketing communication strategy that enables collaboration and communication between marketing, sales, and other departments. This ensures everyone is aligned with the overall business goals, and marketing efforts truly support sales and customer success teams
• Improved customer experience: Streamlined workflows and data-driven insights facilitate the creation of targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with customers. This leads to a personalized and positive customer experience
• Adaptability: Marketing operations equip you with the tools and processes to adapt to changing market dynamics and customer behavior. This ensures your marketing efforts remain relevant and practical as your business grows
• Technology integration: Marketing operations leverage MarTech tools that can scale with your business needs. ClickUp integrates with various MarTech tools like Salesforce and Hubspot to provide a seamless workflow

Developing a Winning Marketing Operations Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide

Now that we’ve explored the essential functions of marketing operations, let’s delve into the process of developing a winning strategy for your business. 

Here’s a breakdown of the steps involved:

The foundation of any successful marketing operations strategy lies in clearly defined goals and objectives. Start by aligning your marketing goals with your overall business objectives. 

Here are some important questions to consider:

• What are your business goals? (Increase brand awareness, generate leads, boost sales)
• Who is your target audience? (Demographics, interests, pain points)
• What are your key performance indicators (KPIs)? (Website traffic, conversion rates, customer acquisition cost)

Identify key stakeholders, such as sales and customer service, and understand their needs. This will help you tailor your strategy to address specific challenges and create a collaborative environment.

• Create a stakeholder map: Use ClickUp List View to create a map of key stakeholders and their needs
• Prioritize needs: Use ClickUp Priorities to prioritize stakeholder needs based on their impact on your marketing goals

Evaluate your current state of marketing operations. Assess your existing tools, processes, and team structure. Identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement. Here’s how to do this with ClickUp: 

• Create a project: Use ClickUp to create a project dedicated to the audit
• Assign tasks: Assign tasks to team members for different aspects of the audit
• Track progress: Use ClickUp to monitor the progress of the audit

Invest in the right marketing technology tools to automate tasks, improve efficiency, and gain valuable insights. You can include tools for:

• Customer relationship management (CRM): Manage customer relationships and interactions
• Email marketing: Design, send, and track email campaigns
• Marketing automation: Automate repetitive tasks and workflows
• Project management: Manage marketing projects efficiently.
• Data analytics: Track performance and gain insights into customer behavior

Develop transparent and standardized processes for common marketing activities . This includes initiatives like lead generation, content creation, campaign management, and social media marketing. Utilizing ClickUp’s templates mentioned earlier can be a valuable starting point for this step.

• Create a process map: Use ClickUp Docs to create a visual representation of your marketing processes
• Define tasks: Break down processes into specific tasks and assign them to team members
• Automate tasks: Use ClickUp Automations to put repetitive tasks on auto-pilot mode

Cultivate a culture of open communication and collaboration within your marketing team and across departments. 

Invest in collaboration tools and encourage regular communication channels to ensure everyone is aligned with the marketing strategy.

• Create a communication plan: Use ClickUp’s Docs feature to create a communication plan outlining communication channels and frequency
• Improve collaboration: Use ClickUp’s collaboration features, such as comments, mentions, and shared files, to facilitate teamwork

Develop a system for measuring the performance of your marketing programs. 

Track key metrics and generate regular reports that demonstrate the impact of marketing efforts on business goals. Tools like ClickUp Dashboards can help visualize and analyze this data effectively.

Marketing operations are an ongoing process that needs continuous evaluation and improvement. Revisit your strategy regularly, analyze performance data, and adapt to changing market dynamics and customer behavior.

💡 Additional tips for a winning marketing operations strategy:

• Invest in marketing operations talent: Build a team with the necessary skills and expertise to execute your marketing operations strategy effectively
• Stay informed of marketing trends: Continuously learn about the latest marketing technologies and best practices to maintain a competitive edge

Experience Smooth Marketing Operations with ClickUp

Marketing operations form the foundation of a successful marketing strategy. If you’re unsure where to begin or how to scale your marketing operations, ClickUp can help you. 

From pre-built process templates to overall project management features, ClickUp provides a solid base for your marketing operations. 

Sign up for ClickUp today and put your marketing ops on autopilot!

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Creating an Online Course Business Plan: 6 Key Elements for Success

In the competitive world of online course business, having a solid online course business plan is crucial for success. It's not just about creating and selling online courses; it's about crafting a strategic roadmap that sets you up for success in the long run. By understanding the key elements for success and setting yourself up for success from the get-go, you can position yourself as a leader in the industry.

The Importance of a Solid Online Course Business Plan

A well-crafted online course business plan serves as your guiding light, helping you navigate through the complexities of starting an online course business. It outlines your goals, target audience, marketing strategies, and revenue projections, providing a clear direction for your venture. Without a solid plan in place, you risk floundering in a sea of competition and missing out on lucrative opportunities to sell online courses.

Key Elements for Success

To thrive in the online course business landscape, certain key elements must be carefully considered and executed. These include market research to identify your niche and competitors, compelling course content creation that resonates with your audience, effective marketing strategies to drive sales, and meticulous financial planning to ensure sustainable growth.

Setting Yourself Up for Success

Starting an online course business is no easy feat, but with careful planning and execution, you can set yourself up for success from day one. This involves leveraging Strikingly features tailored specifically for online course businesses while crafting your unique selling proposition that sets you apart from the competition.

Market Research

Strikingly Analytics Dashboard

Market research is crucial to understanding your potential customers and competitors when starting an online course business. Identifying your target audience involves researching their demographics, interests, and pain points to tailor your courses to their needs. Analyzing competitors helps you understand what courses are already available in the market and how to differentiate yours. Understanding market trends allows you to stay ahead of the curve and anticipate changes in demand for online courses.

Identifying Your Target Audience

To sell online courses successfully, it's essential to identify your target audience and understand their motivations for seeking online education. Conduct surveys, interviews, or use analytics tools to gather data on potential customers' demographics, interests, and preferences. This information will help you create courses that resonate with your target audience's needs and preferences.

Analyzing Competitors

Analyzing competitors in the online course business involves researching what types of courses they offer, their pricing strategies, and how they market their content. By understanding what other businesses are doing in the industry, you can identify gaps in the market where you can offer unique value or differentiate yourself from existing competition.

Understanding Market Trends

Staying abreast of market trends is crucial for success in the online course business. Keep an eye on emerging topics, popular learning formats (e.g., video-based vs. text-based), and changes in consumer behavior related to online learning. This information will help you adapt your course offerings to meet current demands and stay ahead of industry shifts.

Course Content Creation

Carla Knits Template from Strikingly

When starting an online course business, the quality of your course content is paramount. Developing compelling course content that resonates with your target audience is key to selling online courses successfully. Your content should be informative, engaging, and unique, offering valuable insights and actionable takeaways for your students.

Developing Compelling Course Content

To sell online courses effectively, you need to create content that stands out from the competition. Conduct thorough research on your topic and identify what sets your course apart. Incorporate real-life examples, case studies, and practical exercises to make your content relatable and impactful. By addressing common pain points and providing solutions, you can position yourself as a trusted authority in your niche.

Structuring Your Course Effectively

Structuring your course in a logical and organized manner is essential for delivering a seamless learning experience. Break down complex topics into manageable modules and lessons, ensuring a clear progression for your students. Use storytelling techniques to maintain engagement and build anticipation for each new section of the course.

Incorporating Multimedia and Interactive Elements

In today's digital age, multimedia elements such as videos, infographics, quizzes, and interactive assignments can significantly enhance the learning experience. Including these elements not only makes the content more engaging but also caters to different learning styles. By leveraging various media formats, you can create a dynamic and immersive learning environment for your students.

Marketing Strategy

Strikingly Mobile Website

In the competitive world of the online course business, a solid marketing strategy is crucial to stand out and attract potential students. Utilizing social media platforms is a great way to engage with your target audience and showcase the value of your courses. By creating compelling content, sharing success stories, and offering valuable insights, you can build a loyal following and drive traffic to your online course business.

Utilizing Social Media Platforms

When it comes to selling online courses, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn can be powerful tools for reaching your target audience. Share sneak peeks of your course content, host live Q&A sessions, and run targeted ads to generate interest and drive sales. Engaging with your followers through comments and direct messages can also help you build trust and credibility in the online education space.

Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing remains a highly effective way to nurture leads and convert them into paying students. By crafting compelling email sequences that highlight the benefits of your courses and offer exclusive discounts or bonuses, you can entice potential customers to take action. Personalized email campaigns tailored to different segments of your audience can significantly increase conversion rates for your online course business.

Leveraging SEO for Visibility

In order to increase visibility for your online course business, leveraging search engine optimization (SEO) is essential. Conduct keyword research related to starting an online course business within your niche and optimize your website content accordingly. By creating valuable blog posts, landing pages, and other SEO-optimized content, you can improve your organic search rankings and attract more potential students.

Sales and Revenue Projections

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When starting an online course business, setting realistic sales goals to ensure success is crucial. By analyzing market trends and understanding your target audience, you can determine achievable targets for your courses. Selling online courses requires a clear vision of what you aim to achieve and how you plan to achieve it.

Setting Realistic Sales Goals

Setting realistic sales goals for your online course business involves a deep dive into market research and understanding your target audience's purchasing behavior. By leveraging data-driven insights, you can establish achievable milestones that align with your overall business objectives. This approach allows for a more strategic approach to selling online courses, ensuring that your projections are grounded in reality rather than wishful thinking.

Diversifying Revenue Streams

In the competitive landscape of the online course business, diversifying revenue streams is key to sustaining long-term success. While selling online courses may be the primary source of income, consider offering additional services such as coaching sessions, workshops, or supplementary materials to enhance the overall value proposition for your customers. This not only increases revenue potential but also creates a more comprehensive learning experience for your audience.

Pricing Your Courses Strategically

Pricing your courses strategically is essential for maximizing revenue while remaining competitive in the market. Consider factors such as course content quality, industry demand, and perceived value when determining price points for your offerings. Utilize A/B testing and customer feedback to fine-tune pricing strategies and ensure that they resonate with potential buyers.

Crafting a solid sales and revenue strategy is fundamental in establishing a thriving online course business. By setting achievable goals, diversifying income sources, and pricing strategically, you can position yourself for success in this rapidly growing industry.

Operational Plan

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As you start an online course business, it's crucial to have a solid operational plan in place to ensure smooth course delivery and support. Managing course delivery involves creating a seamless experience for your students, from enrollment to completion. This includes setting up user-friendly interfaces, providing timely support, and ensuring the learning experience is top-notch.

Managing Course Delivery and Support

To effectively manage course delivery and support, consider utilizing a reliable learning management system (LMS) that allows for easy content delivery, student tracking, and communication. Additionally, implementing a responsive customer support system will enable you to address any student inquiries or issues promptly. By prioritizing the student experience, you'll build a strong reputation for your online course business.

Implementing Feedback Loops

Implementing feedback loops is essential for continuous improvement in your online course business. Encourage students to provide feedback on their learning experience through surveys or evaluations. This valuable input can help you identify areas for enhancement and refine your courses accordingly. By actively seeking feedback and making necessary adjustments, you'll demonstrate your commitment to delivering high-quality educational content.

Scalability and Growth Strategies

As you aim to sell online courses successfully, it's vital to have scalability and growth strategies in place. Consider how you can expand your course offerings, reach new audiences, or enter new markets over time. Leveraging automation tools for administrative tasks can free up time for strategic planning and expansion efforts. By thinking ahead and staying adaptable, you'll position your online course business for long-term success.

Financial Planning

Minimal Template from Strikingly

Now that you have a solid online course business plan in place, it's time to focus on the financial aspects. Budgeting for course development is crucial to ensure that you allocate resources effectively and create high-quality content that will sell. By carefully planning your expenses, you can maximize your return on investment and set realistic revenue goals for your online courses.

Budgeting for Course Development

When budgeting for course development, consider all the costs involved, including content creation, multimedia production, and platform fees. It's important to allocate resources strategically to ensure that you deliver a high-value product while staying within budget. By carefully planning your expenses, you can avoid overspending and optimize your resources for maximum impact.

Tracking Expenses and Revenue

Tracking expenses and revenue is essential for monitoring the financial health of your online course business. Use accounting software or spreadsheets to keep a close eye on your financials, including costs related to marketing, course development, and operational expenses. By analyzing your revenue streams and identifying areas for improvement, you can make informed decisions to drive profitability.

Securing Funding for Expansion

As you grow your online course business, securing funding for expansion may become necessary. Whether it's through bootstrapping, seeking investors, or applying for small business loans, having a clear plan for funding will help fuel growth opportunities. By demonstrating the potential return on investment from scaling your business, you can attract the capital needed to take your online courses to the next level.

Strikingly: Your Online Course Business Blueprint

Strikingly Landing Page

Creating and selling online courses has become lucrative for many entrepreneurs and educators. You can build a thriving online course business with the right strategy and tools. Strikingly offers a range of customizable features that can help you create and launch your online course business. Here's how Strikingly can be your business blueprint:

• Define Your Course. Clearly outline your course topic, target audience, and learning objectives. This will help you create a well-structured and engaging course.
• Develop a Curriculum. Create a detailed curriculum that covers all the essential topics and lessons. Break down your course into manageable modules and assign appropriate assignments or assessments.
• Choose a Platform. Strikingly provides a user-friendly platform for hosting and delivering your online course. Customize your course landing page to reflect your brand and attract potential students.
• Create Engaging Content. Develop high-quality course materials, such as videos, presentations, and downloadable resources. Use Strikingly's media library to easily upload and organize your content.
• Set Your Pricing. Determine the appropriate pricing for your course based on its value, your target audience, and the market competition. Strikingly's e-commerce features allow you to set and manage your pricing.
• Promote Your Course. Create a marketing plan to reach your target audience. Utilize social media, email marketing, and content marketing to promote your course and generate interest. Strikingly's integration with social media and email marketing platforms makes it easy to reach potential students.
• Offer a Free Preview. Provide a free preview or sample lesson to give potential students a taste of your course content. This can help build trust and encourage enrollment.
• Provide Support and Community. Create a space for students to ask questions, interact with each other, and receive support. Strikingly's forum features can facilitate community building and engagement.
• Track Your Progress. Use Strikingly's analytics tools to monitor course enrollment, student engagement, and completion rates. This data can help you measure the success of your course and make necessary adjustments.
• Continuously Improve. Gather feedback from your students to identify areas for improvement. Use this feedback to enhance your course content, delivery, and overall student experience.

By leveraging Strikingly's powerful features and following these steps, you can create a successful online course business. Strikingly provides a user-friendly platform that simplifies the process of course creation, delivery, and marketing.

Leverage Strikingly Features for Online Course Business Success

Personal Life Coach Template from Strikingly

Setting yourself apart is crucial when it comes to the competitive world of the online course business. You can attract and retain a loyal customer base by offering unique and valuable content. Crafting a compelling Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that highlights what makes your courses stand out will help you to differentiate yourself from the competition. Leveraging Strikingly features for online course business success can also give you a competitive edge in terms of website design, user experience, and e-commerce capabilities.

Setting Yourself Apart in the Online Course Business

In the crowded market of online courses, it's essential to find your niche and offer something that sets you apart from the rest. Whether it's a unique teaching style, specialized knowledge, or innovative course delivery methods, finding your unique selling point will help you attract your target audience.

Crafting Your Unique Selling Proposition

Crafting an effective USP involves clearly communicating what makes your online courses different and better than others in the market. This could be through emphasizing your expertise in a particular subject area, offering a personalized learning experience, or providing additional resources and support to your students.

By using Strikingly's intuitive website builder and e-commerce tools, you can create a professional-looking platform for selling online courses with ease. With customizable templates, integrated payment gateways, and seamless user experience features, Strikingly empowers you to showcase your courses effectively and maximize sales opportunities.

Remember that success in the online course business requires strategic planning and continuous innovation. By incorporating these key elements into your business plan - from market research to operational strategies - you'll be well-equipped to navigate the challenges of starting an online course business and achieve sustainable growth in this competitive industry.

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Tennessee Basks in Year-Two Success of 'Rise Glorious' Strategic Plan

In July 2022, University of Tennessee director of athletics Danny White announced the launch of "Rise Glorious," a comprehensive five-year strategic plan designed to advance Tennessee Athletics through committees that focus on student-athlete success, culture, resources, brand advancement and messaging, and competitive excellence.

As the initiative concludes its second year, the athletic department on Tuesday announced the initiative's accomplishments from the 2023-24 academic season.

Here is a breakdown by category, goal and achievements, as outlined in the athletic department's announcement::

Student-Athlete Success

We will maximize the transformative power of the student-athlete experience by leveraging the impact of sport to holistically develop our student-athletes and empowering each of them to succeed in educational and competitive endeavors while preparing them for life beyond athletics.

• Tennessee Athletics finished the school year with all 16 teams securing over a 3.0 GPA for both semesters. During the fall, the Big Orange posted a 3.40 departmental GPA, which marked the best semester in Tennessee history.
• For the second straight year, a Tennessee student-athlete was named a Torchbearer, as Rylie West of softball was selected for the prestigious award.
• Over $285,000 in postgraduate scholarships were awarded to Vols and Lady Vols.
• Graduation rate of 98% among student-athletes who exhausted eligibility.
• Student-athletes had a record-setting utilization of all physical and mental services offered on campus.
• UT expanded its Sports Science team by hiring a second member.
• Implemented more Faculty Visit Programs.
• More than 180 first- and second-year student-athletes participated in Financial Literacy Education.

"These outcomes of outstanding work allow these accomplishments to happen," White said. "Our record GPAs are in the classroom as well. We are proud of how our student-athletes compete in the classroom."

We will attract goal-driven and intensely competitive teammates to strengthen our family-oriented, innovative and fearless culture as Tennessee Athletics is a career destination.

• Tennessee Athletics developed and implemented over 12 events this year, such as Back to School BBQ, Football Tailgates, Faculty Coach Luncheon and Voloween for staff to engage in and attend.
• Created an inter-departmental TV channel for centralized communication with student-athletes, coaches, and staff, which included athletics events and an engagement calendar.
• Student-athletes were involved in ongoing community outreach through SA Development and in executing the Tennessee Athletics Staff Day of Service in April 2024.
• Implementation of Leadership retreats for administration and coaching staffs, such as the Disney Institute, Faculty and Coaches Luncheon, Lady Vol Leadership Summit and Coaches Retreat.

"The most important thing for us is to ensure our student-athletes and staff are happy and fulfilled in what they're doing," said Tennessee senior deputy athletics director/chief operating officer Allen Greene. "Part of our job is to make sure we're setting up a structure that attracts the most talented, most competitive and most innovative individuals out there. We then want to provide an environment for them to thrive and be the best at what they do. Not their best for Tennessee, but their best in the country. Whether that means the onboarding process, that's professional development, that's making sure we're finding time to bond and grow together as a team. We have to make sure at the end of the day that we understand where we're going and that we're providing the resources to help get them there."

We will aggressively build our resource base to empower our coaches and student-athletes to compete at the highest levels by engaging all stakeholders and capitalizing on the passion and power of Vol Nation.

• Annual Fund achieved $57 million to date.
• Shareholder Society received 308 gifts this fiscal year, shattering its previous record (217).
• Tennessee sold out its entire allotment of season tickets for football (70,500) and men's basketball (14,500) for the 2023-24 season, beating the established goals in both. UT increased its season ticket sales for women's basketball from the previous year and finished with approximately 6,800.
• Sponsorship Revenue beat its goal by nearly $2 million, bringing in $21.9 million for the year.
• Eclipsed the Budget Goal of $180 million and with the expectation of finishing around the $220 million range.

"When we look back at all the success we had this year across the board, to do that, you must have a resource base that allows it to happen," said White. "Our strategic plan has very aggressive revenue goals, and I think we have shattered all of them in the first couple years. I'm proud that Neyland Stadium is sold out, as is the Food City Center for men's basketball. Our baseball and softball stadiums are also sold out. Ticket sales have beaten all the records, and we can't sell any more tickets. We have had two straight record fundraising years, two straight record sponsorship revenue years, and record licensing revenue years. Obviously, competitive success allows an environment and momentum with our fans to allow revenue growth. There's a lot of really hard-working people on our revenue teams and a lot of really hard-working people on our creative and broadcast teams that keep our fan base excited and engaged, which allows these things to happen."

"Our philosophy as the athletic department is that we want to grow resources to be the best athletic department in the country; we want to have the highest budget," added deputy athletic director of championship resources/chief revenue officer Ryan Alpert. "We invest our resources right back into our student-athletes and our programs to try and find effective ways to help our programs win. I think in our three years here we've grown revenues by $80 million, and I think we've significantly and aggressively reinvested those revenues back into our sports programs and delivered huge successes."

Brand Advancement & Messaging

We will strengthen meaningful connections to the athletics program and modernize the way we tell the Volunteer story nationally and globally through the Power of the T.

• Launched America's College Sports City Branding campaign in July of 2023, which showed continuous growth throughout the year and will continue for years to come.
• For the first time ever, licensing royalties reached over $10 million, ranking Tennessee 3rd in the country amongst CLC schools in licensing royalties.
• Formulated a "Brand Opportunity Calendar" to capitalize on crucial moments for exposure throughout the year.
• Launched Game Day Training program with Disney that will carry on for 2025 & 2026 and continue growth of "Welcome to Rocky Top."
• Developed a Branding and Uniform Guide that was communicated to teams/departments to establish a set of guidelines for all Tennessee Athletics branding–from logos to wordmarks to style preferences.
• Hired a new Chief Creative Officer to spearhead all efforts in promoting and branding Tennessee Athletics.

"We had a few key goals that we really wanted to hit in unifying the Power T and the Lady Vol logo, growing our overall footprint in Knoxville and across the state," said Tennessee executive associates athletic director of external operations Alicia Longworth. "Recently, we've launched the Volunteer State campaign. Last year, we launched the America's College Sports City campaign. We established several committees to try and get everybody aligned and working toward the same goal just to make sure that the Orange and White is represented in a manner that we all want it to be represented every day. It helps us grow our licensed product and our revenue there; it helps us grow the brand everywhere. Getting more people interested in Tennessee Athletics to grow our recruiting base and then grow the season ticket holder base with that." 

Competitive Excellence

We will cultivate a championship culture that propels Tennessee to compete for SEC and national championships.

• Tennessee achieved the highest LEARFIELD Directors' Cup finish ever, finishing third nationally and first in the SEC. It marked the second straight year with a top-10 placement in the standings (No. 6 in 2022-23).
• Tennessee Baseball brought home its first national championship in program history.
• UT won its third consecutive SEC All-Sports Title, becoming only the second school in conference history to win three titles.
• The Vols and Lady Vols combined to win four conference championships (Baseball - Regular Season and Tournament, Men's Basketball - Regular Season, Softball - Regular Season).
• For the first time in school history, all 20 sports at Tennessee reached the postseason (the NCAAs and a bowl game).

"Winning is contagious," said White. "I think our student-athletes see each other have the kind of success that they have. We talk about that in recruiting; we have 670 serious-minded men and women that come here to make the most of themselves as a person, student, and athlete. They're all extremely talented, or we wouldn't be recruiting them. I think the football or volleyball player sitting next to the swimmer or the track star, who are all All-Americans in our dining facility, is a healthy environment. We want to be excellent at everything we do. We love the term 'Everything School' and winning in everything we do that represents this big-time university and the state of Tennessee."

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