Strategic Plan Part III: Financial Planning

Financial planning according to business dictionary is the “Long-term profit planning aimed at generating greater return on assets, growth in market share, and at solving foreseeable problems” (Businessdictionary.com, 2015, p. 1). Organizations that are in the process of preparing strategies for the firm must prepare a financial plan detailing the budget necessary to achieve the strategies. In addition, in the financial plan the firm needs to include any personnel, the training if necessary, and any equipment that needs to be purchased. Banner Churchill Community Hospital (BCCH) is working on a strategy to improve the services provided to the patients within the emergency room and one of the proposals is an expansion of the department. As part of the strategy development process, a financial plan needs to be developed to allocate budget and resources to achieve the strategy. Elements for expansion of the emergency room

Banner Churchill Community Hospital expansion strategy team needs to consider the elements that will affect or influence decision-making processes while preparing a financial plan. Some of the elements to consider are the needs in the community, demographics, whether or not the hospital has the capital required for the costs involved in the expansion among many others. A feasibility study will be a good tool for leaders to use when preparing a budget for the project. A feasibility study will explain the use of the new expansion, business justification, business plan, economic analysis, facility requirement, and project objectives to address the needs of the community. Capital expenditure plan and contingency plan

BCCH strategic manager and leaders have prepared a capital expenditure plan to explain where the money is invested through each stage of the three-year project. The original outlay for the project is set at $5.5 million; this budget is intentionally set higher than the cost of the construction to cover any unexpected expense such as rotted plumbing in the current building. The total budget is set at $10 million and the hospital has set aside an additional $2.5 million to be used as contingency money to cover the foreseeable situations that come along with a big project such as this. The increase in salary per employee at the hospital is an average of a 2.5% and the salaries as a percent of revenue is 33%; the hospital is located in a small rural town so the living costs and wages are lower than larger cities. The budget presented in Appendix A demonstrates how each stage of the project is finance and the outlay per each phase. According to Walrath and Augenbroe (2007) “the biggest failure of project planning is a poor requirements analysis and an incomplete scope definition package” (p. 13). Too often, the master plan scope is not aligned properly with the budget plan, thus the need to have a contingency plan with funds on standby to address such events that can lead to frustration in later stages in the project. Budget Summary

Business Model – Hunger and Wheelen (2007) describe a business model as “a company’s method for making money in the current business environment” (p. 58). BCCH business model follows the same in the nonprofit healthcare industry. The business does not produce products but it provides services to the patients and the community. BCCH offers a variety of services to the community such as emergency care, maternity care, in-patient, and outpatient care. In addition, the hospital offers laboratory, radiology, cancer treatment, and orthopedic care among others. The hospital makes a profit in the form of medical insurance reimbursements or cash payments for services rendered to patients. The expansion will help differentiate the emergency room services from the competition and provide a competitive edge by decreasing the wait times. Financial Adjustments if any and why – no financial adjustments were made to the original budget plan based on the organization’s protocol for this type of projects.

Banner Health System is a centralized firm and the hospitals under the organization have to adhere to the policies and procedures in place. This allows for transparency and equality throughput the 28 hospitals. Influence of internal resources and financial capabilities on financial plan – a resource-based view (RBV) of the hospital will help assess resources within the organization (Lee, Lee, and Pennings, n/a). RBV looks at the firm as a bundle of internal resources and the influence these attributes have on the firm’s competitive advantage and performance. Some of the RBV include human, technological, financial resources, organizational culture, and managerial capabilities (Lee, Lee, and Pennings, n/a). The strategic manager and leadership team will look at the internal resources such as personnel and equipment to assist in the decision-making of the project. New equipment is needed for the new addition, will it be possible to sell the existent old equipment in the department and use that money to cost some of the new purchase. During the construction, some of the services will be limited; the organization needs to consider the possibility of moving some of the personnel to other departments if they meet qualifications to perform new tasks. Conclusion

In conclusion, many factors that influence the approvals and denials of projects and a financial plan will present a clear picture of the budget needed to cover the expenses. The expenses are for the construction of the extension in ER, hiring new staff and the training, and purchasing new equipment and supplies to make the area productive. The team will need to list the elements involved in the project and prepare a budget summary to present to the Board of Directors and the Banner Health capital purchase team. As part of the summary, the team can present internal resources that might help with the decision process such as the sale of current equipment to help cost the new one. A financial plan is a critical step in the strategic planning process because in this plan is where the strategic manager can justify the budget he or she is requesting. Financial planning is often viewed as a long-term business strategy, two-third of advisers indicate financial planning is a revenue generator (King, 2009).

References

Businessdictionary.com. (2015). Financial Planning. Retrieved from
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/financial-planning.html Hunger, J. D., & Wheelen, T. L. (2011). Essentials of strategic management (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

King, R. (2009). PRACTICE TRENDS: The business value of financial planning. Journal of Financial Planning, 22(6), R14-R15. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/217551216?accountid=458 Lee C., Lee, K., Pennings, J. M. (n/a). Internal Capabilities, External Linkages, and Performance: A Study on Technology-based Korean Ventures. Retrieved from

http://www-anagement.wharton.upenn.edu/pennings/documents/Internal_Capabilities.pdf Walrath, B., Augenbroe, G. (2001). A project Planning Guide for Healthcare Facility Owners.
Retrieved from
http://herg.gatech.edu/Files/lsu_report.pdf