Coming up with the right game plan offers the best chance at success.
by Thomas S. Hartwick and Fred Patterson
If innovation is the heart of a technology company, then the game plan is the brain. One cannot succeed without both.
Flaws in innovation are rare in the United States, but game plans are always flawed, and they are usually fatally flawed—which accounts for the high rate of failure for start-up companies.
A dictum originating in the Harvard MBA training program is that “a company that prepares and follows a good game plan has the best chance for success.” Rigorously following the game plan—while continuously searching for the flaws and applying corrective action—offers a small company this best chance to succeed.
A company’s game plan, as we define it, includes the pro forma business plan, the strategic plan, and the operating or action plan. Many companies follow “how-to”-book descriptions and develop a decent pro forma business plan and short-range operating plan. But the greatest flaws for a small company lie in the strategic vision and the important future decisions that flow from strategic assessments.
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