Former US president and army general Dwight Eisenhower famously said “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” What does this statement mean for the role of business plans in entrepreneurial ventures?

Question

Accepted Answer

Given that entrepreneurship is especially needed in situations that are uncertain, it is impossible to make a perfect plan about the future. Since the search process of entrepreneurship requires entrepreneurs to test their hypotheses in the field and then interpret the results, knowing which hypotheses to test and prioritize is greatly helped when the entrepreneur engages in the activity of analysis and research design, followed by an interpretation of the results. The process of planning is helpful in the process of testing and interpreting hypotheses, which may deviate from the plan itself. Planning is therefore more important than the actual plan.

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Answer

Entrepreneurship is not like battle. As a result, while the statement from Dwight Eisenhower is interesting, it has no use for the field of entrepreneurship, as entrepreneurship is a commercial activity.

Answer

It means that it is not enough to just have a plan, which could also just be a plan that is given to the entrepreneur by others. For a plan to be useful for entrepreneurs, it has to be the entrepreneur himself or herself that has to produce this plan. It is only then that a deep insight into the intricacies of the plan will be understood, and which are necessary for its effective execution.

Answer

The problem with many failing entrepreneurs is that they stop planning too early and engage in action too quickly. Just having a plan is not enough. Entrepreneurship requires you to take planning seriously, and to give it some time before jumping into action.

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Former US president and army general Dwight Eisenhower famously said “In prepa...

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