1. Define and describe a business. Businesses attempt to create wealth for their owners by using their resources to deliver products or services that their customers demand. Doing this means managing the competing demands of their stakeholders.
   
   
2. Identify and describe the stakeholders of a business. Several economic parties inside and outside the firm, known as stakeholders, take an interest in the success of the business. Common stakeholder groups are customers, suppliers, employees, owners, lenders, regulators, and the community.
   
   
3. Explain the relationship between strategy and profitability. Business strategy describes how a company plans to position itself in the marketplace to meet the needs of customers, while delivering returns on the investments of owners. Profitability is an integral part of most business strategies, and generally does not occur accidentally. Therefore, managers create strategies that allow a company to generate sales and control costs in competitive markets.
   
   
4. Describe the strategic planning process and its results. Strategic planning is an ongoing and continuous process in which companies determine what their businesses will be in the future. It involves defining a mission and outlining its strategy in a set of realistic goals and the action steps needed to achieve them. The process results in a formal document that: (1) analyzes the company's current and future business operations to identify potential opportunities and risks, (2) defines the company's mission, (3) details specific goals and related action plans to execute strategy, (4) lists the resources required by the action plans, and (5) presents projected performance reports that reflect the outcomes expected of the business strategy.
   
   
5. Identify barriers to successful strategic planning. Strategic planning can be hindered by a number of common oversights, including the failure to identify critical success factors and set achievable goals, not setting aside enough time for the planning process, or neglecting to focus both externally and internally. Careful consideration of such factors increases the likelihood that a strategic plan will succeed.