Page 50 - Law Society of Hong Kong MPMC Manual v8 - With checklists (1 March 2018)

Practice Management Course | Unit 5
Business Planning

39. Objectives might take a number of forms including the following:

• Directional objectives (e.g., moving into a different market or developing
new services).
• Performance objectives (e.g., improvements in growth, profitability, client
base, or client service).
• Reputation objectives (e.g., market leadership, brand name, specialist
status, or quality service).

40. For each objective, determine the strategies that the practice will use to achieve
them. Responsibility for each strategy must be allocated to a person who has the
capability and willingness to carry them out. These strategies will usually be
incorporated in Action Plans. Action Plans required include:

• Financial Plans.
• Marketing Plans.
• People Plans.

41. Once the practice has decided on its key performance indicators, it should
determine whether it currently has access to the information required to monitor
performance. For example, if the objective is to increase the number of litigation
files opened monthly, from 25 to 30, the practice will need to have computer
software that collates this information or set up a manual file register to record
details of new matters.

42. The practice will need a starting point to review its performance. Therefore, it will
need data on the practice's current performance. This should have been identified
during the operational audit process. The practice will need to:

• Monitor achievement of the key performance indicators regularly within
the 12-month period.
• Evaluate performance under the plan at the end of 12 months and build in
the data from that evaluation into the succeeding 12-month Business Plan.

43. These requirements are not onerous if the proper data collection systems are in
place at the beginning.

© The Law Society of Hong Kong (2018) Page 46