Strategic Plan, Part I: Conceptualizing a Business
BUS/475
January 27, 2014

Strategic Plan, Part I: Conceptualizing a Business
Organizations must be able to stand out and stay competitive with other organizations within the same industry. In my community, a small business that needs to be introduced is a day care center. I will be the owner of the center and operator of the center; the décor will be kid friendly with bright clean colors. This will be a place when a family walks into the center it feels welcoming. Setting my day care center apart from the other centers in the area will be a challenge. Below is the mission and vision statement for my establishment along with the outline of how I plan to set my business on top of the other establishments.
Mission Statement
The child care center will provide a safe, developmental program (age appropriate) environment for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, pre-kindergarten, and school age children. The focus of the center is to provide early education, which will increase social/emotional, physical, and cognitive development. Teachers will provide a good environment to help promote good behavior and manners. Our goal is to support the willingness to learn in which is in the best interest of the children.
Vision Statement
The child care center will be known for superior quality education. Our center will provide a place where parents and children can interact in a safe environment and still have fun. The employees are trained and educated by the center for their appropriate age group. Teachers have an understanding of the mission and values of the center and are committed to follow these. Our center will be well known in the community for a well establish child care center that provides outstanding service to the children and parents.

The guided value that will make this business a success is to make sure I stay true to myself which is sticking to the mission and vision statement. Making sure my employees have an understanding that these values are to be carried out daily. The promises made to the parents, and the children are to make sure their child is safe and provided with an age appropriate developmental program. The culture of the business will come from my culture and how I was raised. This is to show people with respect, have a passion for children, respect for diversity, show leadership, and teach how to balance work and life. Ethics and social responsibility are a high priority for the child care center. Social responsibility and responsiveness to the children, parents, teachers, and the community are shown by listening and watching how one responds. Taking action upon situations and resolving them is a priority.
In opening a business, a mission and vision statement should be created. This allows for the public and employees to have an understanding of what the owner of the business is promoting and inspired in creating this organization. The business will not be successful if the staff and the owner do not follow the values and goals that have been created for the business. The mission statement will show the public what the business is now, and the vision statement is creating what the business wants for the future. As a business, we must make sure to keep the promise from the organization to the customers. If the promises are not met nor kept the business will not be successful and this has to be carried out by the staff and the owner. A child care center is a very competitive business. One will want their business to be the best. In order to be the best you must make sure the mission and vision statement are created with values that are followed (Pearce & Robinson, 2009).
Customer satisfaction and needs are a high priority for this organization. When there is a complaint the situation has to be solved in a timely manner. This could include investigating with the staff and owner to resolve the issues. The needs of the customers will be met by making sure the promises of the child care center are met by the staff an owner. There may be issues that arise and at this time the owner along with the director may need to make changes in order to make sure the needs of the customers are always being met. These types of actions will require an investigation to make sure the right decision is being made. As our customers and staff have an understanding of how these actions will take place to make sure the needs of the customers come first this will keep this child care center to achieve a competitive advantage from other centers that are not willing to make changes in order to keep the needs of the customers met.
A child care center that is developing as a small business will need to make sure a mission and vision statement are created. The mission and vision statement will allow for employees and the public to have an understanding of what the business is about today and what the business foresees for the future. These two statements are very important as what the public thinks about your business could make you successful or keep you from being successful. The services that will be provide are a safe, developmental program (age appropriate) environment for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, pre-kindergarten, and school age children. Staff will promote a social/emotional, physical, and cognitive development. Teachers will provide a good environment to help promote good behavior and manners. Values, culture, ethics, and social responsibility need to be analyzed from the owner and made sure the staff has an understanding of what should be promoted to the children and parents daily. The organization will stand out from other child care centers because the customer needs come first. Making sure the staff understands if the needs of the customers are not being met an investigation will take place to figure out why the needs are not met and appropriate changes will be made. As long as these promises from the mission and vision statement are met the child care center will be able to become successful and stay on top of the competition for this industry.

References
Pearce, J. A. II, & Robinson, R. B. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.