So far, we have decided on the direction in which the business will be going, researched the market and planned the sales and marketing activities, decided on the physical and staff resources that will be required and when and how they will be obtained, and finally, we have forecast the cash flow and capital funding requirements and what combination of finance will best match the needs of the business. Now all that remains is to put the different parts of the jigsaw together to complete the strategic plan, and of course actually to make it work, the problem here being that the implementation stage is probably the most critical of all, and the one that has the biggest propensity for problems to occur, particularly if the sequence and phasing of the implementation are not carefully planned and organized. Hopefully, the right decisions for the future of the business have already been made, but now comes the time to decide how to make those earlier decisions work together.

This chapter relates to Units D1, D3 and D4 of the Revised Business Development Standards, which involve preparing an action plan for the expansion of the business, preparing for and implementing change, and gathering information to monitor the process and make critical decisions as and when needed.