Strategic Planning in the Small Business

Unit

3

Content

Process

ward new

market areas, but not

new or

different

target markets.

Further the

product remains unchanged.

The customer

and product characteristics

of the target

market that have

provided past success

are

still emphasized.

Careful

environmental and internal

analy­

sis

is critical to the success

of this posture.

A misreading of competitive

forces or

target market demands

and characteristics

could result in significant

losses.

Difficulties

may arise if unnecessary

expansion occurs, most

notable are ques­

tions of leadership and

control.

Small business

owners often have

difficulty

delegating

authority.

Another problem area

may be providing

standard quality.

In short,

the management structure,

per­

sonnel

and operating policy

areas must be

reexamined

regularly if this posture

is

adopted.

9 The developmental

growth posture

A business that utilizes

a developmental

growth posture decides

to grow by either

developing new

target markets for its

current products

or by offering product

variations
to existing markets.

The two forms
of developmental posture

are market development
and product

development.

In market development,
the business
at­

tempts to appeal
to new and varied

market
segments who characteristics
or

demographics differ from
those of estab­

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