Strategic Planning
Introduction
There are a variety of strategic planning models, including goals-based, issues-based,
organic, scenario.
Goals-based planning is perhaps the most common as it starts with a focus on the
organization’s mission (and vision and/or values), goals to work toward the mission,
strategies to achieve the goals, and action planning.
Issues-based strategic planning often starts by examining issues facing the organization,
strategies to address those issues, and action plans.
Organic strategic planning begins with the organization’s vision and values and then action
plans to achieve the vision with adhering to the values.
Major differences in how organizations carry out the various steps and associated activities
in the strategic planning process are more a matter of the size of the organization than
whether its profit/nonprofit. Smaller nonprofits and for-profits tend to conduct planning
activities similarly and large nonprofits and large for-profits tend to conduct similarly. But
the focus of the planning activities is different for-profits and nonprofits. Nonprofits
traditionally tend to focus more on matters of board development, fundraising and
volunteer management.
(Source: http://managementhelp.org/plan_dec/str_plan/str_plan.htm)
The structure of this analysis going forward will be as follows:
Organizational Theory surrounding NPOs:
Mission Statements of NPOs:
Product and Services Offered:
Organization Structure:
Potential Competition:
Management Strategies:
o Marketing Strategies
o HR Strategies
Mission, Vision and Goal Statements:
The mission should define core purpose of the organization i.e. the reason why it exists.
Peter Drucker argues that all organizations including nonprofit organizations exist to serve
a customer i.e. satisfying a public need. Therefore, the emphasis of this needs to be
brought out in the mission statement as well. Nonprofit and governments do not have a
profit making imperative, so it becomes a central requirement that the mission statement
clarify the purpose of a NPO clearly articulating for all stakeholders. Clearly, the mission
isn’t just window dressing; in fact, the very success of public and nonprofit enterprises is
often dependent, at least in part, on the development of a crystallizing mission. (Source:
Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies by Paul R.
Niven, John Wiley & Sons 2003 Archive Citation)
Researchers from the Independent Sector found that, “a clear, agreed-upon mission
statement is one of the four primary characteristics of successful nonprofit organizations.”
(Source:]E.B. Knauft, Renee Berger, and Sandra Gray, Profiles of Excellence (San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991)
The evidence is clear that public sector organizations also benefit from the declaration of
a distinctive mission, as David Osborne and Ted Gaebler reported in Reinventing
Government: “The experience of hashing out the fundamental purpose of an organization
—debating all the different assumptions and views held by its members and agreeing on
one basic mission—can be a powerful one. When it is done right, a mission statement can
drive an entire organization from top to bottom. “(Source: David Osborne and Ted
Gaebler, Reinventing Government (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1992)
Another important aspect of defining a mission is that it is a longer term goal that never
really can be completely achieved, therefore this becomes the beacon for the NPO and this
is so very true for a NPO to have such a mission as it will drive it’s strategy, the resources
that it attracts and how enduring these are in the longer run. In times when the course can
become unclear, this is the light that shows the way to clearer choices for the NPO. For
example:
In the case of Bon Secours Health System (a health care provider existing from 1800s) in
the late 1980s was considering the purchase of a group of nursing homes. Though this
deal was profitable and all analysis pointed to the value this could create for Bon Secours
but details also revealed that low pay and inadequate employee benefits were the true
driving force of the nursing home company’s profits. Bon Secours reconsidered the
acquisition in light of its mission statement that emphasized a caring environment for its
customers and employees. The nursing homes deal would have violated the mission
statement so the deal was rejected. (Source: Tom Krattenmaker, “Write a Mission
Statement that Your Company is Willing to Live,” Harvard Management Update, March
2002.)
Typically, for a NPO what is also important is that who writes the mission statement.
Considering only senior management or executives could be one answer, but I believe that
since a NPO does most of its operational work largely through volunteers and less through
employees, it becomes important to have representation of this constituency as well. The
closer the mission statement is to what these volunteers considers is important for their end
customers, the more likely is the high quality of the output and easier to continue
recruiting volunteers. However, since many of the large NPO that we know and will
discuss in this paper have been existing for decades, it also makes sense to evaluate
mission statements in the context of emerging needs of the customers every 20-30 years.
This doesn’t imply major shifts in the mission statement, but indicates adding newer
dimensions/nuances to the same by evaluating:
Is the mission up to date? Does it reflect what the organization actually does and is all
about?
Is the mission relevant to your clients and constituents? Does a compelling reason for your
existence present itself from a review of your mission?
Who is being served? Should you rewrite the mission to more accurately reflect your
current customer base?
(Source: (Source: Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit
Agencies by Paul R. Niven, John Wiley & Sons 2003 Archive Citation)
Looking at Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as an example that revisited its mission
statement in September 1998, the new language represents the new direction theirs has
taken in terms of transforming itself into a customer-oriented organization. This also
underlines the agency’s duty to administer the tax laws fairly for everyone. “This mission
statement reflects the new attitude at the IRS,” said Charles 0. Rossotti, Commissioner of
Internal Revenue. “Our top priority is putting the interests of the taxpayers first, and this is
spelled out simply and clearly in the mission statement. (Source:
http://www.unclefed.com/Tax-News/1998/nr98-59.html)
Some of the sample mission statements are:
Internal Revenue Service: The mission of the Internal Revenue Service is to provide
America’s taxpayers with top-quality service by helping them understand and meet their
tax responsibilities and by applying the tax law with integrity and fairness to all.
American Cancer Society: The American Cancer Society is the nationwide
community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major
health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer
through research, education, advocacy, and service.
Having highlighted the importance of mission statement lets me also mention an
interesting example that I came across during my research i.e.
“I work for a Stamford, CT human services nonprofit. We don’t have a mission
statement, just a vision statement: No child shall be denied hope, love, or a fair chance in
life. It’s *our* dream, guiding our every move each day. We’re corporate in many ways
(lots of leadership development, Good to Great memorized, etc.), but our vision is much
more motivating than some lame mission statement that names off programs and
strategies.” (Source: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1934)
What needs to be brought out here is that the understanding of mission statement is absent
in this case and the link of a vision statement being driven by the organization’s mission
statement is missing as well.
The next step from the mission statement is identifying specific goals breaking down the
broader mission into individual elements which you can be pursued operationally. For
example, if your broad mission is to create economic opportunities for teenagers in a
certain city or district, you might have specific goals of publicizing job opportunities for
teens, mentoring teens in career development, and nurturing teens’ leadership and
entrepreneurial skills.
For example, if the above nonprofit’s goal was to mentor teens in career development, an
objective might be to implement a mentoring program in a certain city or district, by a
certain time. It’s often hard to judge whether a nonprofit has successfully accomplished a
broad mission or even a narrow goal, but much easier to determine whether it has
achieved a well defined, concrete objective.
Product and Services Offered:
As Peter Drucker puts it in the compilation of his writings, The Essential Drucker, that
nonprofits are teaching the business world how to manage business. The products and
services of the NPOs are already well reflected in their mission statements, as they avoid
sweeping statements of goodness and gestures and focus on clear definition of objectives
that help their organization perform.
The decision to service customer groups with products/services by NPO can be analyzed
using several of the prevailing frameworks of strategic management i.e. resource based
views, goal based view and approach to achieve competitiveness. Some of the key
considerations that influence this as aspect are:
1. Customer needs (goal based view)
2. Resource availability (resource based view)
3. Social trends (achieving competitiveness)
4. Political and legal support (resource based view)
5. Technological trends (achieving competitiveness)
Looking at some of the existing NPOs and their products & services, customer needs drive
