title: Business planning: a template for success.
abstract: Because managing a laboratory, or any health-care entity, is as much a business as a service, it is important for you to have a good grasp on how you can take opportunities from idea conception to implementation to assessment/revision. Regardless of the size of your proposed project, you need to consider a number of factors, among them: your history and what opportunities you can seize from your strengths and weaknesses; the overall business climate; anticipated costs; staff involvement; how you will market your project; and what measures to use to determine your success. Above all else, you need to set goals, both ultimate and intermediate, to instill focus, incentive, and a sense of achievement. The next time someone on your staff says, "Why don't we try that?," refer to this Template Topic. It can serve as a tool to help you determine whether you should try "that" and be the compass that helps guide your efforts.
authors.affiliation: Professional and Ancillary Services, University Medical Center, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dye
mesh_terms: D003284:Contract Services; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004465:Economic Competition; D006755:Hospital Shared Services; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008389:Marketing of Health Services; D010934:Planning Techniques; D011361:Professional Competence; D014481:United States