Positive attributes are being used to market Lafayette County as the best place to do business. Strategic planning is designed to assist an entity to make the best use of its resources in order to respond effectively to change, to take full advantage of its opportunities, and to avert threats to its existence. Strategic planning is about direction. The essence of strategic planning lies in positioning the organization or community in order to gain major advantage. The Lafayette Development Corporation will be developing a strategic plan in order to maximize the organization's effectiveness.
Strategic planning is a process, and a rather rigorous process at that.
It works because it forces concentration on key strategic issues and questions, because the process promotes creativity and innovative thinking, because it forces those involved to face facts they do not like and to ask questions they have lacked the courage or knowledge to ask. It works because, in today's increasingly turbulent, changing environment, the ability to adapt properly is key to survival. It works because it identifies opportunities, because it concentrates, husbands, controls, and directs resources to assure a future consistent with organizational or community interest. Strategic planning provides an organized way in which a consensus can be developed that allows strategies to be successfully implemented in a community. It has been documented that those using strategic planning have been more successful in attaining their goals than those without such a plan attain.