Findings from American Express have shown a definitive link between long-term business planning (looking three-five years in the future) and business success.
The 2016 ‘American Express CFO Future-Proofing Survey’ examined the views of 250 CFOs from Australian companies with revenues of between $2 million and $300 million.
Some of the key findings of the research include:
- 83 per cent of mid-sized businesses with a long-term game plan forecast growth in the coming year.
- 25 per cent of businesses with a long-term game plan think their business is at risk of failure over the next three-five years. Of those with no game plan, 49 per cent predict growth, while 44 per cent believe their business is at risk.
- 42 per cent of CFOs armed with long-term game plans are very confident their organisation will achieve its goals compared with just 10 per cent of those with no game plan.
- Businesses with a long-term strategy have less fear of failure and higher appetite for risk.
- Long-term game planners are better communicators and gain employee buy-in to business plans (56 per cent compared with 15 per cent of those with no long-term plan).
- 23 per cent of mid-sized businesses fail to have a formal business strategy or game plan, 37 per cent only have one for the short to medium term and 40 per cent have a comprehensive, long-term game plan.