Marketing audit plan

Marketing audit plan.
Part I. Revision of the marketing environment.
Macro center:
– Demographic factors.
– Economic factors.
– Natural factors.
– Scientific and technical factors.
– Political factors.
– Cultural factors.
– Micro-center:
- Rinky.
- Pozhivachi.
- Be competitive.
– Roster dealer system.
- Post-stalkers.
– Additional and marketing organizations.
– Contact audiences.
Part II. Revision of marketing strategy.
– Program of activities (mission) of enterprise.
– The goal is marketing.
– Marketing strategy.
Part III. Audit of the organization of the marketing service.
– The relevance of the structure of the marketing service to bright minds.
– Functionality of the marketing service.
– The effectiveness of coordination between functional units and marketing services.
Part IV. Revision of additional marketing systems.
– Marketing information system.
– Marketing planning system.
– Marketing control system.
Part V. Audit of marketing performance.
– Analysis of profitability.
– Analysis of the effectiveness of vitrat.
Part VI. Revision of warehouses to the marketing complex.
– Commodity policy.
– Price policy.
- Zbutov's policy.
– Communication policy.
The warehouse marketing audit plan can be changed depending on whether an audit of one of the warehouse marketing plans is carried out, and a comprehensive audit of the marketing system is carried out at the enterprise.
When creating a system for monitoring and conducting audits, it is necessary to clearly understand what tasks are set in order to determine the criteria for assessing the effectiveness of the system, how quickly it is possible to analyze the results of audits, who will deal with it, in both cases get involved in entrepreneurship.
The effectiveness of managing marketing activities in an enterprise depends on the effectiveness of the functioning of additional marketing systems, as well as the marketing planning system itself, the marketing organization system, and the marketing control system.

Marketing audit

A marketing audit (or, as it is also called, a marketing audit) is, in essence, an assessment of the commercial viability of a business, the scope of economic activity, and a search for an answer to the question: do a given enterprise or firm have prospects in the market. Therefore, the purpose of a marketing audit is to formulate questions that need to be answered (preferably with the help of the management of the enterprise where such an audit is carried out), discuss them in order to identify existing problems and outline ways to eliminate them.

The subject of the audit can be all elements of marketing: the goals and strategies of the company in the field of marketing, the effectiveness of pricing policy, the existing sales network and the directions of its development, forms of advertising and product promotion on the market, changes in the range of products and services sold, the reliability of sales forecasts, the correctness of choice target segment, etc.

Marketing audit is a systematic, critical and objective study on an ongoing and regular basis of the state of the external economic environment of the enterprise, its goals and strategies in the field of marketing, marketing activities carried out at the enterprise in order to determine existing and future opportunities for the economic activity of the enterprise, possible problems and develop an action plan that can be used to improve the position of the enterprise through marketing.

A feature of a marketing audit is its equal applicability to both operating enterprises or companies, to already existing species business and new projects. It does not matter whether we are talking about a large or small business. As in the case of drawing up an international business plan, the methodological basis of a marketing audit for the giants of the former Soviet industry (such as ZIL or AZLK) and a project related to the purchase and installation of two new machines in the corner of some old barn, proudly called workshop No. 5 , will be absolutely the same.

In general, a marketing audit is intended to demonstrate to the management of an enterprise, a potential investor or partner (in the case of creating a new business or developing investment project) the following:

• The peculiarities of the general economic situation (in the city, region, country, industry) are such that this business has good prospects (from the point of view of ecology, local and federal legislation, political and socio-economic situation);
• there is a genuine unmet need in the market and comparative competitive advantages the product most closely corresponds to it (in terms of price, quality, production technology and delivery, level of service, etc.);
• does the product have market potential (a market of sufficient capacity, growing or at least stable consumer demand, are the sales forecasts made reliable, is the competition correctly assessed, are the sales regions chosen correctly, are all barriers to entry into the sales market surmountable, etc. .);
• How effective are the means of promoting the product on the market, how good are the company’s operational plans in this regard (are the sales strategy, forms and level of financing of advertising and other promotional activities chosen correctly, which sales intermediaries are chosen and why, how reliable are the suppliers of components and sources of supply of raw materials? and materials, is the storage and transportation scheme of the product rational, etc.);
• comparative competitive advantages of the enterprise itself; why exactly it (a team of managers, entrepreneurs) will best cope with promoting the product (due to the experience and historical characteristics of the past production and economic activities of the enterprise, technology and composition production capacity, features of the location, the accumulated scientific and technical potential that it has, thanks to the work experience and qualifications of managers and specialists, etc.).

The main methodological technique of a marketing audit is a list of questions to which answers must be sought. The effectiveness of the audit procedure largely depends on how complete and correct this list is. All questions can be divided into six main assessment categories:

1. The external economic environment in which the enterprise or firm operates or is to operate;

2. Goals and strategies of an enterprise or company in the field of marketing;

3. Organizational structure marketing management and operational efficiency of performing the main marketing functions in the company;

4. Basic marketing systems;

5. Financial efficiency of marketing activities and marketing budget;

6. Effectiveness in market research (according to the main components of the marketing research format).

Business portfolio of the enterprise

Business portfolio is a set of individual areas of activity of an enterprise. Corporate portfolio, business activity portfolio, activity portfolio, portfolio valuable papers, business portfolio (direct transliteration). The business portfolio must correspond to the capabilities of the enterprise and the specific conditions of the external environment. Business activity portfolio analysis is an essential element of strategic management. The company, based on periodic analysis, must determine which areas of activity should be developed and to what extent, and which should be eliminated. When developing business development strategies, the business portfolio can be expanded to include new types of activities.

Definition of the concept

A business portfolio is a collection of strategic business groups or individual businesses that exist within one company. The primary task of each company producing certain goods or engaged in a certain type of activity is to create an optimal business portfolio that is most combined with the company's advantage and can help in exploring the most attractive industries or markets for it.

Portfolio analysis and its role in strategic management

Portfolio analysis is the most important strategic element of business (SEB). It is a method by which a firm's strategic business units (SBUs) are analyzed collectively to identify the key activities that define the company's mission.

Portfolio analysis of a business gives a clear picture of the company’s field of activity and the interconnection of parts of the business, presenting it as a single whole. With its help, economic activities are identified and assessed, the most promising directions. Subsequently, this is where funds are invested, and investments in ineffective projects are reduced or stopped altogether. Portfolio analysis also makes it possible to assess the relative attractiveness of markets and the competitiveness of an enterprise in each of them.

The company's portfolio is supposed to be balanced, that is, there must be the right mix of divisions or products that need capital for growth with business units that have some excess capital. With the help of portfolio analysis, such important business factors as risk, cash flow, renewal and attrition can be balanced.

Six Steps to Portfolio Analysis

Portfolio analysis is carried out step by step. There are six steps in this process.

The first step is to select levels in the organization to conduct business portfolio analysis. This is a necessary condition, because a firm cannot perform analysis only at the firm micro level. It is necessary to define a hierarchy of levels of analysis of the business portfolio, which should begin at the level of an individual product and end at the top level of the organization.

The second step is to capture units of analysis, called strategic business units (SBUs), in order to use them when positioning them on business portfolio analysis matrices. Very often SEBs are different from production units. SEBs may cover one or more products that satisfy similar needs. Some firms view SEBs as product-market segments.

The third step is to define the parameters of the business portfolio analysis matrices in order to have clarity regarding the collection of the necessary information, as well as to select the variables on which the portfolio analysis will be carried out. For example, when studying the attractiveness of an industry, such variables may include market size, degree of protection from inflation, profitability, market growth rate, and the degree of market penetration in the world.

The fourth step - data collection and analysis is carried out in many areas, but the four most important areas are considered priority:

The attractiveness of the industry from the point of view of the presence of positive and negative aspects of the industry, the nature and degree of risk, etc.;

The competitive position of the company in the industry, as well as the overall competitive position of the company, assessed on special scales for individual key characteristics of competitiveness;

Opportunities and threats to the firm, which are assessed in relation to the firm, and not to the industry, as is done in the case of assessing the attractiveness of the industry;

Resources and personnel qualifications, considered from the perspective of the company’s potential to compete in each specific industry.

The fifth step is the construction and analysis of business portfolio matrices, which should give an idea of ​​the current state of the portfolio, on the basis of which it is possible to predict the future state of the matrices and, accordingly, the expected business portfolio of the company. In this case, four possible scenarios for the dynamics of matrix changes should be taken into account. The first scenario is based on extrapolation of existing trends, the second is based on the fact that the state of the environment will be favorable, the third scenario considers what will happen in the event of a disaster, and, finally, the fourth scenario reflects the most desirable development for the company.

The development of the dynamics of change in matrices is carried out in order to understand whether the transition of a business portfolio to a new state will lead to the company achieving its goals. To do this, you need to assess the general condition of the predicted business portfolio. In particular, the following characteristics of the projected portfolio state should be clarified:

Does the portfolio include a sufficient number of businesses in attractive industries;

Does the portfolio raise too many questions and ambiguities;

Is there a sufficient number of stable profitable products to grow promising ones and finance new products;

Does the portfolio provide sufficient income of both profit and cash;

How vulnerable is the portfolio in the event of negative trends;

Are there many businesses in the portfolio that are weak in terms of competition?

Depending on the answer to these questions, you can come to the conclusion about the need to form a new product portfolio.

The sixth step is to determine the desired business portfolio in accordance with which of the options can best help the company achieve its goals. Speaking of this, it is important to emphasize that business portfolio analysis matrices in themselves are not a decision-making tool. They only show the state of the business portfolio, which must be taken into account by management when making decisions. In portfolio analysis, the following business portfolio analysis matrices are widely used:

Boston Consulting Group Portfolio Matrix (BCG Matrix);

General Electric-McKinsey Matrix;

Matrix Consulting Company Arthur D. Little;

- Shell's “directional policy matrix”.

Portfolio analysis is an important, but not the only tool for strategic management. It does not replace either strategic planning as a component of strategic management, or strategic management in general. This conclusion has important methodological significance, since quite often the role of portfolio analysis of businesses is exaggerated.

Marketing tactical planning

A tactical marketing plan is a detailed outline and costing of specific promotions needed to achieve the goals set for the first year in the strategic marketing plan. The tactical plan is usually drawn up for one year.

The problem with this approach is that many managers sell products and services that they consider easy to sell to consumers who offer the least resistance. By first developing short-term tactical marketing plans and second by extrapolating from them, managers simply succeed in extrapolating from their own shortcomings. Preparing a detailed marketing plan is typical for companies that confuse sales forecasts and budgeting with strategic marketing planning.

Tactical planning

The term "tactics" is originally a military term of Greek origin, meaning the maneuvering of forces suitable for achieving given goals.

Tactical planning is making decisions about how an organization's resources should be allocated to achieve strategic goals.

Features of tactical planning:

The implementation of tactical decisions is better observed and less subject to risk, since such decisions relate mainly to internal problems;

The results of tactical decisions are easier to evaluate, since they can be expressed in specific digital indicators (for example, it is more difficult for a farmer to assess the specific benefits of introducing products under his own brand than to calculate an increase in the output of poultry meat in special packaging when acquiring new capacities);

Tactical planning, in addition to its concentration on the middle and lower levels of management, is also characterized by a tendency to the levels of individual divisions - product, regional, functional.

Operational planning means almost the same thing as tactical planning. The term “operational”, more clearly than the term “tactical”, emphasizes that this is the planning of individual operations in the general economic flow in the short and medium periods, for example, production planning, marketing planning, etc. Operational planning also refers to the preparation of an organization's budget.

The planning process is the first stage of the overall activity of the company and includes the following main points:

1. The process of drawing up plans, or the direct process of planning, i.e. making decisions about the future goals of the organization and how to achieve them. The result of the planning process is a system of plans.

2. Activities to implement planned decisions. The results of this activity are the real performance indicators of the organization.

3. Monitoring the results. At this stage, real results are compared with planned indicators, and ways to adjust the organization’s actions in the right direction are determined. Despite the fact that control is the last stage of planning activities, its importance is very great, since control determines the effectiveness of the planning process in the organization.

The planning process is not a simple sequence of operations for drawing up plans and not a procedure, the meaning of which is that one event must occur after another. The process requires great flexibility and management skill. If certain points in the process do not meet the organization's goals, they can be bypassed, which is not possible in the procedure. People participating in the planning process do not simply perform the functions assigned to them, but act creatively and are capable of changing the nature of the action if circumstances require it.

The planning process consists of a number of stages following each other.

First stage. The company conducts research on its external and internal environment, determines the main components of the organizational environment, identifies those that really matter to it, collects and tracks information about these components, makes forecasts of the future state of the environment, and assesses the real position of the company.

Second phase. The company establishes the desired directions and guidelines for its activities (vision, mission, set of goals). Sometimes the goal setting stage precedes the environmental analysis.

Third stage. Strategic analysis. The company compares goals (desired indicators) and the results of studies of external and internal environmental factors (limiting the achievement of desired indicators) and determines the gap between them. Using strategic analysis methods, various strategy options are formed.

Fourth stage. One of the alternative strategies is selected and developed.

Fifth stage. The final strategic plan for the company is being prepared.

Sixth stage. Medium-term planning. Medium-term plans and programs are being prepared.

Seventh stage. Based on the strategic plan and the results of medium-term planning, the company develops annual plans and projects.

The eighth and ninth stages, while not stages of the direct planning process, determine the prerequisites for the creation of new plans.1

The sustainability of the functioning of an enterprise, firm, company in market conditions is determined, among other things, by the presence of actions to coordinate the external manifestation of their elements. At the same time, ensuring compliance between the goals, objectives and potential capabilities of the enterprise is the basis for justifying the directions of activity. These activities are combined within the framework of strategic planning, which, in combination with marketing, provides the opportunity for the organization to grow in terms of economic performance.

Planning is a natural part of management. Planning is the ability to foresee the goals of a company (organization), predict the results of its activities and evaluate the resources necessary to achieve certain goals.

Planning helps answer four important questions.

1. What does the company (enterprise) want to be?

2. Where is it currently located, what are the results and conditions of its activities?

3. Where is she going to go?

4. How, with the help of what resources can its main goals be achieved? Planning is the first and most significant stage of the management process. Based on the system of plans created by the company, the organization is subsequently carried out

planned work, motivation of the personnel involved in their implementation, monitoring of results and their evaluation in terms of planned indicators.

One of the “fathers” of modern management, A. Fayol, noted: “To manage is to foresee,” and “to foresee is almost to act.”

Planning is not just the ability to foresee everything necessary actions. It is also the ability to anticipate any surprises that may arise along the way and be able to deal with them. A firm cannot completely eliminate risk from its operations, but it can manage it through effective foresight.

Related information.

As a member of an administrative consulting group, you are assigned to a company specializing in the production of office equipment. The company includes five strategic business units (Table 3.7). Using the method of analyzing the company's business portfolio proposed by BCG (Fig. 3.3), determine the relative market share of each SBU of the company and formulate a conclusion about the health of the company as a whole. Present to company management on the practical use of the BCG matrix and offer your recommendations for future strategies.

Concept and portfolio of an enterprise

An enterprise portfolio, or corporate portfolio, as previously defined, is a collection of relatively independent business units (strategic business units) owned by the same owner. Portfolio analysis is a tool with which enterprise management identifies and evaluates its business activities in order to invest funds in its most profitable or promising areas and reduce/terminate investments in ineffective projects. At the same time, the relative attractiveness of markets and the competitiveness of the enterprise in each of these markets is assessed. The company's portfolio is supposed to be balanced, that is, there must be the right mix of divisions or products that need capital to support growth with business units that have some excess capital.

The analysis of a corporate portfolio can be considered complete only when its current state is projected into the future. To do this, it is necessary to assess the impact of projected changes in the external environment on the future attractiveness of the industry and the competitive position of the strategic business unit. Managers must understand whether the corporate portfolio will improve or deteriorate in the future. Whether there is a gap between its predicted and desired state. If the answer is yes, then the expected gap should serve as an incentive to reconsider the corporate mission, goals and strategies.

The company's plans for its existing business make it possible to predict sales and income indicators, which often do not satisfy it at all. Let us assume that in the process of strategic planning a discrepancy arose between the control indicators of the company’s performance in the production of some product and the predicted ones. You can close the gap by acquiring a new business or deciding to create a new strategic business unit (SBU). In Fig. 7-9 the strategic gap that has arisen in the organization is presented graphically. The lower curve shows the sales forecast for the next ten years. It is based on the company's current business portfolio. The upper curve is the sales level planned for the same period. It is obvious that the current state of business does not allow the company to develop at the planned pace.

The second step is the fixation of units of analysis, called strategic business units (SBU), in order to use them when positioning them on business portfolio analysis matrices (see paragraph 2 of Chapter 8). Very often SEBs are different from production units. SUBs can cover a single product, they can cover several products that satisfy similar needs, and some firms may consider SUBs as product-market segments.

Once a firm has analyzed all of its business portfolios and their interconnectedness, management can move on to portfolio reconfiguration. Management must first determine whether the company's current business portfolio of countries, activities, market segments, and departments can achieve its corporate objectives. In particular, it is important to determine whether the existing business portfolio provides the desired direction for future expansion, while at the same time providing the necessary balance between emerging and mature markets, as well as the desired level of risk diversification. In addition, management should evaluate the need to restructure strategic business units (SBUs) and consolidate and integrate operations to increase global knowledge and efficiency.

Restructuring, recovery and savings strategies are used when it is necessary to change the situation in enterprises with deteriorating performance indicators. The recovery strategy emphasizes the rehabilitation (revival) of unprofitable enterprises rather than getting rid of them. The goal of this strategy is to improve the performance of the corporation as a whole by resolving the problems of specific structural divisions (business units), the activities of which have become unprofitable or ineffective. Refers to industries with attractive prospects, in which getting rid of doing business in the long term is irrational. The savings strategy is aimed at reducing the scale of diversification and reducing the number of enterprises (companies) of the corporation as a whole, when it is necessary to concentrate the efforts and resources of the corporation on key areas of activity that bring success and have prospects for development in the future. A savings strategy can be useful whenever there are problems with making a profit for a particular company in a corporation. The application of such a strategy is accompanied by getting rid of enterprises (branches, companies) that are too small to generate sufficient profit or their activities (their presence in the portfolio) do not correspond to the strategic goals of the corporation.

An enterprise's portfolio, or corporate portfolio, is a collection of relatively independent business units - SHP (strategic business units - SBU), owned by the same owner.

The development of preliminary strategic concepts will allow us to form an optimal business portfolio and determine corporate-level priorities in the shortest possible time. As a result, detailed strategies will be developed only for priority business units, which will significantly reduce costs and improve the quality of decisions made.

In a diversified company, managers must combine a set of strategic options from different business units to create a portfolio of investment opportunities and disinvestment options implemented at the corporate level. It is at this point in time that managers can make major changes to the company's strategy and then communicate their decision in formulated form to rivals, customers, employees, investors and other interested parties.

The next analytical step is to determine how well each business unit fits into the overall business picture of the company. This fit should be considered from two perspectives: 1) whether the necessary strategic fit of the business unit is ensured with other enterprises of a diversified company; 2) whether the business unit fits well enough into the company's strategy or successfully complements its portfolio. An enterprise is more attractive strategically if it shares some operations with other enterprises.

Provides a strategically sound way to organize portfolios of business units in a broadly diversified company.

The portfolio strategic approach is recommended for companies that have more than one

The concept of a business portfolio and strategic business unit (SBU)

Business portfolio

A strategic plan includes several components: mission, strategic imperatives, strategic audit, SWOT analysis, business portfolio analysis, goals and strategies.

Having formulated the company's mission and the tasks at hand, management must plan its business portfolio - a set of activities and products that the company will deal with. A good business portfolio is one that optimally adapts the company's strengths and weaknesses to the capabilities of the environment. The company should, firstly, analyze its existing business portfolio and decide in which areas of activity to allocate more or less investment (or not at all), and, secondly, develop a growth strategy to include new products or areas in the portfolio activities.

Analysis of a company's business portfolio should help managers assess the company's field of activity. The company should strive to invest in more profitable areas of its activities and reduce unprofitable ones. The first step for management when analyzing a business portfolio is to identify the key areas of activity that define the company's mission. They can be called strategic elements of business.

In the next stage of business portfolio analysis, management must assess the attractiveness of the various SSEs and decide how much support each deserves. In some companies this happens informally during the work process. Management examines the company's portfolio of activities and products and, using common sense, decides how much each SEB should bring in and receive. Other companies use formal methods for portfolio planning.

Formal methods can be called more accurate and thorough. Among the most well-known and successful methods of analyzing a business portfolio using formal methods are the following:

and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) method;

and the General Electric (GE) method.

The BCG method is based on the principle of analyzing the growth/market share matrix. This is a portfolio planning method that evaluates a company's SEB in terms of their market growth rate and the relative share of those elements in the market. SEBs are divided into “stars”, “cash cows”, “dark horses” and “dogs” (see Fig. 2.1).

The vertical axis in Fig. 2.1, market growth rate, determines the measure of market attractiveness. The horizontal axis, relative market share, determines the strength of a company's position in the market. When dividing the growth/market share matrix into sectors, four types of EBS can be distinguished.

Rice. 2.1. Growth/market share matrix built using the BCG method

"Stars". Rapidly developing areas of activity, products with a large market share. They usually require heavy investment to maintain their growth. Over time, their growth slows down and they turn into “cash cows.”

"Cash cows" Lines of business or products with low growth rates and large market shares. These sustainable, successful SEBs require less investment to maintain their market share. At the same time, they generate high income, which the company uses to pay its bills and to maintain other self-assessment systems that require investment.

"Dark horses". Elements of a business that have a small share of high-growth markets. They require a lot of capital to even maintain their market share, let alone increase it. Management should carefully consider which dark horses should be turned into stars and which should be phased out.

"Dogs". Business lines and products with low growth rates and small market shares. They may generate enough income to support themselves, but do not promise to become more serious sources of income.

Each SEB is placed on this matrix in proportion to its share in the company’s gross income. After classifying the EBS, the company must determine the role of each element in the future. For each SEB, one of four strategies can be applied. A company may increase investment in an element of its business to gain market share for it. Or it can invest exactly as much as is necessary to maintain the SEB share at the current level. It can pump resources out of the SEB, withdrawing its short-term monetary resources for a certain period of time, regardless of long-term consequences. Finally, it can divest from the SEB by selling it or phasing it out and use the resources elsewhere.

Over time, SEB changes its position in the growth/market share matrix. Each SEB has its own life cycle. Many SEBs start out as “dark horses” and, under favorable circumstances, move into the category of “stars”. Later, as market growth slows, they become “cash cows” and, finally, at the end of their life cycle, they fade away or turn into “dogs.” The company needs to continuously introduce new products and activities so that some of them become “stars” and then “cash cows” that help finance other SEBs.

General Electric has proposed a comprehensive method for planning a business portfolio called the strategic business planning matrix (see Fig. 2.2.). Just like the BCG method, nm uses a matrix with two axes: the vertical one represents the attractiveness of the industry, and the horizontal one represents the company's sustainability in the industry. As the figure shows, the best businesses are in high-attractive industries in which the company has a strong position.

In the GE method, other factors are taken into account in addition to market growth rates as factors of industry attractiveness. A special complex of industry attractiveness has been developed, determined on the basis of market size, market growth rates, industry profitability ratio, degree of competition, seasonality and cyclicality of demand, and cost structure in the industry. All these factors, assessed quantitatively, make up the industry attractiveness index. To assess the sustainability of a business, the GE method also uses a special index, rather than a simple indicator. Fig. 2.2. General Electric's strategic planning matrix for relative market share. The Business Sustainability Index reflects factors such as a company's relative market share, price competitiveness, product quality, customer and market knowledge, distribution efficiency and location advantages. These factors are quantified and combined into a business sustainability index, which ranks sustainability as high, medium or low. The grid is divided into three zones. The cells in the upper left are sustainable SEBs in which the company should increase capital investment and expand production. Cells located on the diagonal show SEBs with an average level of overall attractiveness. The three cells in the lower right corner represent SEBs with low overall attractiveness. The company should seriously consider applying resource reallocation tactics or complete divestment to these SEBs.

Rice. 2.2.. General Electric Strategic Planning Matrix

The circles represent the company's SES; The size of the circles is proportional to the share of industries in which the SEB data are competitive. The segments inside the circles indicate the market share of each SEB. It is also recommended to display the planned provisions of the SES in the matrix. Moreover, this should be done both with an unchanged strategy and if it changes. By comparing the actual and planned matrices, management will be able to timely identify future problems or opportunities. Analyzing the company's business portfolio should also prevent investing in markets that seem attractive, but in fact are not sustainable.

BCG, GE and other matrix methods are revolutionizing the strategic planning process. However, these methods have significant limitations. Their use takes a lot of effort, time and money. It may be difficult for management to define the boundaries of SEBs and quantify their market share and growth rates. In addition, these methods focus on classifying current areas of activity, but are of little help in planning future activities. Formal methods of planning and analysis may also result in a company seeking to grow primarily by increasing its market share or by entering more attractive new markets. By doing this, many companies become involved in new, rapidly developing areas of business that are unusual for them, which they do not know how to manage. A number of companies are abandoning formal methods in favor of other, more flexible ones, but most firms remain staunch supporters of strategic planning.

What is an investment portfolio? This question is mainly asked by all novice investors who want to get maximum income from, while reducing the risk of losses. Besides, f formation and– this is an important, necessary and primary task for all investors, on which, first of all, the size of their income depends. Therefore, the fate of your investments will depend on how competently you create your investment portfolio.

And, if you want to know how to properly build an investment portfolio, read this article to the end. From it you will learn all the necessary information regarding the investment portfolio. Starting from what an investment portfolio is, its types, types and qualifications, ending with how to optimize it and manage it effectively.

Content

What is an investment portfolio

In order to make it more clear what we are talking about in this article, let’s understand what an investment portfolio is.

Investment portfolio is a set of various investment assets in which he invests his cash investor with the goal of making a profit.

Can be securities, commodities, real estate, gold, options and others financial assets, which are selected depending on the investment period and the investment portfolio formation model.

The main and main task of an investment portfolio is to bring profit to its owner. Moreover, simply by being in this portfolio.

The main feature of the investment portfolio is that:

• the investor can convert investment assets into money at any time;
• and low level of risk: in case of loss of capital in one investment instrument, others will remain.

Despite this, completely exclude investment risks It's simply impossible. And the most common of these risks are:

1. The wrong investment instrument has been selected. Which, first of all, is associated with investing in the assets of dubious companies or companies with dubious prospects.
2. Inflation not taken into account
3. Incorrect timing of acquisition of investment assets. For example, experienced investors buy stocks when everyone else is selling them, and not vice versa, as many do.

Be that as it may, each experienced investor has his own approach to forming an investment portfolio. And they are guided by their own rules and principles acquired over time. For example, Warren Buffett purchased stocks that other investors considered unpromising. And, as often happened, he was right and made a decent profit from such shares.

Advantages and disadvantages of forming an investment portfolio

The advantages of forming an investment portfolio include:

1. Liquidity

For the most part, investors invest their funds in highly liquid investment assets, which gives them the opportunity to quickly sell them without much loss. It even turns out that with a good profit.

True, not all investment assets can be quickly sold. For example, shares of little-known companies are more difficult to sell, since investors are wary of them. But, as a rule, such investments often bring good profits.

1. Openness

Today it is quite open to anyone who wants to invest their money in shares. In addition, there is no longer any need to study and search for the necessary information, everything is publicly available on the exchange website.

It is because of this publicity of information that even the most ignorant person can get all the information they need, from price dynamics from period to period, to the volume of investments in a particular security and the spread.

1. Profitability

As a rule, most investors have an investment portfolio consisting of securities that are classified as highly profitable investment assets. In addition, shares can generate income in two cases: the first - in the form of dividends, the second - when securities increase in price.

1. Easy to use

In cases of purchasing securities, you can purchase them and forget about them for a while. You buy and you receive dividends, and if you do it correctly, you can increase their profitability many times over.

TO shortcomings of the investment portfolio relate:

1. Riskiness

This minus, however, is relative. And, basically, it depends on what investment assets you will use to form your investment portfolio. If the investment portfolio consists only of highly profitable assets, then the risks of losing everything at once will be very high. And, if you wisely and correctly distribute your funds across various investment instruments, you will significantly reduce the risk of losing your investments.

1. Availability of necessary knowledge

There is no point in starting to invest without certain and special knowledge. Even a novice investor must know the principles of investing and be able to calculate risks. Otherwise, you will not only be left without income, but also lose all your invested capital.

1. Ability to conduct analysis

Failure to analyze can lead to very sad consequences. An investor without this skill simply runs a very high risk of losing his capital. When investing, it is not so important to have enormous knowledge and skills; it is much more important to be able to correctly establish cause-and-effect relationships. A properly conducted analysis can identify a negative trend in the market in advance, minimize risks and make a profit even under very unfavorable conditions.

Types of investment portfolios- This is information that any investor, especially a beginner, should know. It is this knowledge that forms the basis for the formation of our own investment principles.

Now, let's look at the general and basic qualifications of investment portfolios.

1. Conservative investment portfolio (reduced risk + reliable income)

This investment portfolio is characterized by minimal risks and guaranteed average income. The main investment assets of this portfolio are highly reliable securities with a slow increase in market value. As a rule, these are shares large companies, securities issued by the state, bonds of issuers with a high degree of reliability and have been present on the market for a long time.

A conservative portfolio is mainly formed by people who find it easier to receive less money than to lose it completely. Also, beginners who do not have enough necessary knowledge and experience begin to form such a portfolio. But this investment portfolio allows you to gain all this without huge losses.

2.Aggressive investment portfolio (maximum income + high risk)

As a rule, this type of investment portfolio consists of highly profitable investment assets. And, as is already known, where the expected income is higher, there is a higher risk of capital loss. Typically, such a portfolio consists of stocks and securities with large price fluctuations over a short period, which provides high returns from interest or dividends.

An aggressive investment portfolio is suitable for experienced investors who have sufficient knowledge and experience. And also those who know how to analyze the market situation and can predict its behavior. It is better not to use this type of portfolio for beginners.

3. Combined mixed or moderate investment portfolio

This is an investment portfolio where risks and returns are at the same level. As a rule, these are long-term, taking into account their growth, which include most securities: shares and bonds of reliable issuers that have been present on the market for a long time.

How to trade on stock market, you can read.

4. Ineffective investment portfolio (high risk + low return)

This type of portfolio is rarely mentioned due to its unpopularity. Typically, such a portfolio is formed only by novice investors or investors who invest irregularly, without market monitoring or news analysis. Securities and other assets in this case are chosen arbitrarily, without a plan or strategy.

As has long been noted by investment experts, the age of an investor has a direct bearing on the formation of an investment portfolio. The younger generation usually builds its portfolio of high-yield and riskiest investment assets. On the contrary, older people prefer to invest their funds in long-term, stable projects with less risk and, as a result, less profitability.

Types of investment portfolio

Based on the method of generating income, it is fashionable to distinguish the following types:

1. Growth Portfolio is an investment portfolio aimed at purchasing investment assets whose value should increase.
2. Income Portfolio– aimed at purchasing investment assets that will generate income (from redemption, dividends, etc.).
3. Short-term portfolio– aimed at purchasing highly liquid investment assets in order to subsequently sell them.
4. Long-term portfolio– aimed at acquiring investment assets (regardless of their liquidity) to obtain a stable income.
5. Regional portfolio– this is the acquisition of securities of one specific region, allowing you to concentrate on a narrower segment of the market.
6. Industry portfolio— acquisition of investment assets of one industry to narrow the field of investment.

Any investor should know the classification of investment portfolios, regardless of whether he is a beginner or not. This will allow you to better navigate the investment market and help you make better choices.

Principles of investment portfolio formation

In addition to knowledge of qualifications, for the competent formation of an investment portfolio it is necessary to have a good understanding of the principles portfolio investment. The most basic and important ones are listed below.

1. Target orientation

This is the most important and main principle concerning, in general, all investing in general. The essence of this principle is that:

Before you do, you need to know why you need it.

There are many purposes for investing your money, the most common of which include:

• saving money, indexing for inflation;
• getting a lot of income;
• gaining experience in investing and acquiring real-time analysis skills;
• etc., there are many investment goals, and everyone has their own.

The main thing is that your goals should be precise, clear and specific. There may be many of them, but they must be there.

2. Balance of risks and returns

This is precisely the point about which controversy continues to this day. Some believe that it is more important to obtain a high income, while having a high risk of capital loss. Others believe that the main thing is a stable, although not large, but still income.

Here, everyone must decide for themselves the balance of risk and return, without relying on the opinions of other, even very experienced, investors. That is, a person must decide for himself how much he is psychologically ready to lose, given the corresponding risk and income.

3.Liquidity

This is very important indicator, which must be emphasized when forming an investment portfolio. It is typically created from investment assets that can be bought and sold regularly. This is what makes them very attractive, especially for experienced investors.

True, there are also low-liquid assets that ultimately bring huge profits to their owners. Everything is relative here. Therefore, it is so important to have an analytical mind in order to be able to predict the behavior of investment assets in response to changes in the economic situation in the financial market.

4.Diversification

Without this, but without diversifying investment assets, it is almost impossible to reduce the risks of losing your capital. Therefore, when forming an investment portfolio, you need to distribute your capital into investment assets in such a way that if one asset becomes unprofitable, there are others left from which you could make a profit. Then the loss of capital will not be perceived very painfully, and you will not lose all your money.

What can an investment portfolio be formed from?

When forming an investment portfolio, it is necessary that it meets the following requirements:

• bring maximum profit;
• have the least risks;
• All assets must be liquid to ensure quick exit from a position if necessary.

The most common and popular components of an investment portfolio include:

Stock - risky securities that can bring very large profits, some of which can make a person rich in a short time.

Bonds - This is a more conservative type of securities that are not suitable for short-term investments. Designed for passive investors. who prefer to make profits slowly but surely.

Futures and options - this is a type of investment on the securities market, which can be called in another way as bets on economic events in the country. With such investments, it is imperative to have special knowledge and skills. But despite this, this method of investing is an excellent option for beginners.

Bank deposits and deposits. , as it was and remains the most reliable way to invest your money. Here the investor is almost guaranteed to get back the invested amount with a small income that only covers inflation.

This financial instrument is ideal for accumulating the required amount of funds and for

Currency of other countries. Here you need to be able to soberly assess the economic situation in the country in whose currency you are going to invest your funds, and its future prospects. That is, the investor must have a good understanding of the economy, be able to analyze and make further forecasts. Beginners who do not have sufficient knowledge and skills for this have nothing to do here.

. For several centuries, precious metals have been a currency that is guaranteed to bring good income to its investors. True, in order to get tangible profits, you need to invest your funds for a relatively long time.

You can read how to invest in gold correctly

Particular attention should be paid here to the compulsory medical insurance (non-personal - metal account) - a very interesting investment instrument in which the investor is given a certificate of ownership of a certain amount of precious metals. They accrue interest, which, together with the invested amount, can be withdrawn at any time. And as the value of the metal increases, your bill will increase accordingly.

Real investment – this is a business, a share of a startup and other similar assets. That is, something that can at least somehow be touched.

This is the main and most common set financial instruments, in which investors invest their funds. True, there is no specific and defined set of assets from which an investment portfolio is formed. Everyone chooses them for themselves. But, nevertheless, the basis of most investment portfolios are securities, mainly bonds. And for more conservative investors, the lion's share is .

You can read how to open a bank deposit in , and opening an online deposit - .

Forming an investment portfolio - step-by-step instructions for beginners

We have dealt with the theory, now we can move on to practical actions. Namely, let's consider step by step plan formation of an investment portfolio.

Step 1. Set the right investment goal

Any investor should always know why he is investing his money in a particular investment instrument, and what he ultimately wants to get. The clearer and more specific the goal, the more effective his investment activities will be. If an investor has vague thoughts in his head, and he does not know exactly what he wants, then his actions will be corresponding: vague, inaccurate and inarticulate.

In addition, your investment goal must be realistic. That is, you don’t need to “jump over your head” and try to achieve the unattainable, you still won’t make it, you’ll only overstrain yourself and be disappointed.

It is better for beginners to seek help from a professional consultant, listen to the wise advice of experienced investors and follow them.

Step 2. Choose an investment strategy

The investment strategy is chosen based on the investor’s personal considerations and what he ultimately wants to achieve.

In fact, there are three main investment strategies:

1. Aggressive strategy is a strategy that involves getting a lot of income in a short time. With this strategy, an investor must be active and constantly buy. sell and reinvest. This strategy requires time, knowledge and money.
2. Conservative strategy is a strategy that involves a passive approach to investing, that is, waiting. Its goal is to obtain a stable income with a minimum of risk. mainly chosen by people who do not want to risk their funds, and by beginners without the necessary knowledge and skills.
3. Moderate strategy involves a combination of aggressive and conservative strategies. Here risks and returns are at the same level. Usually. This is a long-term investment.

Step 3. Choose a broker

It will be better if you choose a reliable broker who will help you and guide you on the right path. To do this, analyze the activities of several brokerage companies, read reviews about them and ask experienced investors.

Step 4. We analyze the market and select investment objects

Here you will need to conduct a market analysis and select investment assets that match your investment goals and chosen strategy.

To begin with, you will need to obtain all the necessary information about the available investment objects: read specialized sites, articles, books, etc. Once you begin to understand them and distinguish them from each other, you can move on to practice.

Especially at the very beginning investment activities, it is better to form an investment portfolio primarily from conservative investment assets. For beginners, their share should be about 50%. As you gain the necessary experience, it will be possible to reduce the share of conservative investments, gradually increasing moderate and aggressive ones.

In any case, you need to choose only those investment objects in which you understand at least a little. And you need to take on only those risks in the form of loss of capital that you are psychologically ready to endure.

Step 5. We optimize the investment portfolio

It is not enough to create an investment portfolio; it still needs to be constantly optimized. For example, if it contains shares of a company whose performance is regularly falling, you need to get rid of them. You can, of course, leave them, but here you need to have a firm belief that they will rise in price again.

In any case, each investor himself chooses how often to optimize his portfolio. Conservatives, for example, rarely change their investment objects, but aggressive investors do this with enviable regularity.

Step 6. Making a profit

Making a profit is the ultimate goal of any investor. Each investor has the right to decide for himself how to manage it. Some use it as a permanent income, while others use it to expand their investment portfolio.

Investment portfolio management

A well-formed investment portfolio, if managed effectively, can bring the owner impressive profits. True, for this it is necessary to understand what effective investment portfolio management. Now let's try to figure this out in order.

Investment portfolio management - this is the performance of a series of sequential actions aimed at preserving and increasing capital invested in investment assets.

Moreover, these actions should help reduce the risk of loss of invested funds and contribute.

Today there is two methods of investment portfolio management:

• active;
• passive.

1. Active method of investment portfolio management

This method involves constant analysis investment market with the aim of purchasing profitable assets and selling low-income ones. Thus, the investor constantly monitors, observes and acquires the most interesting offers for various investment assets, which leads to a quick and dramatic change in the composition of the investment portfolio depending on the state of the investment market.

Exists three main ways to actively manage an investment portfolio:

• comparing the profits of old investments with new ones;
• sale of unprofitable assets and purchase of profitable ones;
• constant updating of the investment portfolio, its restructuring.

The general meaning of active management is that the investor must continuously monitor the economic situation in the country, monitor financial market, analyze quotes, stock prices and anticipate possible changes.

So it turns out that this management method requires extensive knowledge, decent experience and understanding of the laws of economics.

2.Passive investment portfolio management

This method involves the formation of an investment portfolio using diversification and taking into account possible risks. In such a portfolio, it is rare for there to be a change in its composition.

Passive control includes:

• diversification of the investment portfolio;
• determining the minimum profitability of assets;
• selection of investment assets taking into account diversification and profitability;
• monitoring the profitability of assets, and updating the investment portfolio in the event of a decrease in the profitability of its minimum.

Thus, with passive management, the investor prepares a well-risk-protected, diversified portfolio in advance and updates or collects assets into a new portfolio only in the event of a large drop in the yield of securities and other investment instruments.

Investment portfolio optimization

In order for the formed investment portfolio to be profitable and bring profit to its owner, it is necessary to regularly optimize it. There are many optimization methods. The main and most effective ones will be discussed below.

1. Diversification of the investment portfolio

This is the most important and main rule of an investor. Another way they say is: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” If there are a lot of eggs, then there should be more than one basket. The more investment assets are in the investment portfolio, the lower the risks will be. True, its profitability must be calculated so that it covers the existing inflation.

Approximately the diversification of an investment portfolio can be shown as follows:

• 50-70% are low-risk investments;
• up to 20% — highly profitable investments With high degree risk;
• the rest goes to reserve needs and is placed in bank deposits or, for example, in unallocated metal accounts.

This is the classic composition of an investment portfolio. It may be different. Each investor has the right to form its structure himself.

2.Investing money in a bank

Investing money in bank deposits is a method suitable for those who prefer more reliable investment. You can distribute your funds according to the most large banks countries.

In addition, today many banks offer their clients and Their reliability is close to bank deposits, and the profitability is higher.

3. Investments in real estate

It was, is and most likely will be practically the most reliable way to invest your funds (besides bank deposits, Certainly). Here the investor is almost guaranteed to receive a decent income. At least the inflation rate will definitely overlap.

Instead of a conclusion

Now you know what an investment portfolio is, how to form, optimize and manage it. If this seems very difficult to do, do not despair and be afraid to take on this task. Remember - knowledge and experience are formed only by performing certain actions and putting in effort. Laziness and inaction have never made anyone rich. The main thing is to try, try and start doing something - and you will definitely succeed!

Also, you can express your opinion about the article and about the site itself in the comments, point out the shortcomings of this resource.

The MyRublik site will be very grateful to you.

Recently, one of the conditions for the sustainable development of enterprises is to ensure that they best use available production and financial resources with maximum compliance of the range of products with the needs of consumers. This state can be achieved by creating a mechanism for forming an assortment policy used in the practice of intra-company planning. However, in the current conditions, business structures sometimes do not have enough internal resources to respond in a timely and adequate manner to ongoing changes. The increasingly complex conditions of the modern planning mechanism require constant development and changes in the assortment portfolio of the enterprise.

The formation of an assortment policy is one of the main activities of each enterprise, and leadership in the competition is given to enterprises that own methods that allow them to determine an effective assortment policy. The main objectives of assortment policy management are: satisfying consumer demands, winning new customers and optimizing financial results enterprises

One of the integrated approaches to forming the assortment of a retail outlet is the creation of “product portfolios” of the company.

The concept of “product portfolio” should be understood as the totality of all goods (product groups, types and varieties of goods), for the production of which there are possibilities within the framework of the organizational, economic and technological conditions of a given production.

In the practice of enterprises, a product portfolio is a set of goods that have different levels of profitability, are at different stages of the life cycle (LC) and, as a result, have different prospects in the market. Due to the limited duration of the life cycle, the composition of the portfolio is a variable value over time, which is due to the discontinuation of old products and the development of new ones (updating the assortment). At the same time, the composition and structure of the product portfolio must correspond to the set of goals of different planning horizons that the organization sets for itself. Thus, managing the structure of the product portfolio is complex process and consists in choosing the optimal solution, taking into account all possible optimization criteria and limitations that occur in existing and possible conditions when implementing various development alternatives. Depending on the type of objectives to be achieved by the structure of the enterprise’s product portfolio and the time horizon within which it is planned to achieve target indicators, the following types of product portfolio can be identified:

* income portfolio, maximum volume portfolio, maximum market share portfolio; - from the point of view of the type of optimality criterion used;

* insurance portfolio - from the point of view of attitude towards the possibility of reducing risk;

* specialized and diversified portfolios - in terms of the type of coverage of target market segments, industry and technological homogeneity;

* uniformly targeted and multi-purpose portfolios - from the point of view of the composition of the target indicator;

* a portfolio of maximum current results, a growth portfolio - from the point of view of the duration of the covered period for achieving the target indicator, the expected dynamics.

* It is necessary to clarify the difference between the concepts of a product portfolio and a business portfolio. The second category is broader and includes a list of business areas - strategic business units (SBU), which sometimes have very significant differences from each other in terms of technology, target market, etc.

A product portfolio is an assortment of products produced within a separate production facility - a technologically separate SBU. Product groups included in a separate product portfolio have a much lesser degree of isolation than SBU, while the decisive feature for classifying certain goods or product groups as one of the product portfolios will be their production on the equipment of the same fleet. Otherwise, we should talk about the product portfolios of various SBUs.

A strategic business unit (SBU) is an intra-company organizational unit responsible for developing the company's strategy in one or more target market segments. Business units should provide the opportunity to cover all decisions, chances and risks associated with a certain “business”; these can be entire areas of activity. Ideally, each business unit has its own market goal, is an independent division of the company, has a mission, its own product lines, specific competitors and its own markets. The strategic management of the company will have to decide which SBUs to support in the first place, from which divisions to draw funds for such support, and which SBUs to evaluate as unpromising.

All activities of the company are divided into SBUs, which must:

* serve the market, and not work for other divisions;

* have your own consumers and competitors;

* The management of a business unit must control the factors that determine success in the market.

When each independent division of a company (SBU) has a mission, its own product lines, specific competitors and its own markets, portfolio analysis is used. Portfolio analysis (portfolio analysis) is a tool with which enterprise management identifies and evaluates its economic activity in order to invest funds in its most profitable and promising areas and reduce (terminate) investments in ineffective projects. At the same time, the relative attractiveness of markets and the competitiveness of the company in each of these markets is assessed. It is assumed that the firm's portfolio should be balanced, i.e. there must be a proper mix of business units or products that need capital to support growth with business units that have some excess capital. To conduct portfolio analysis, methods are used whose purpose is to understand the business and create a clear picture of the formation of the company's costs and profits. Most large and small companies with a different range and range of services use portfolio analysis methods to formulate their strategy focused on long-term goals. Portfolio analysis is designed to solve the following problems:

* coordination of strategies of the company’s business unit for their balance;

* distribution of human and financial resources between departments;

* portfolio balance analysis;

* setting tasks and monitoring their implementation.

The main advantages of portfolio analysis are the ability to reflect strategic problems; definition of the company's SBUs, their position and contribution to the corporate portfolio. The main disadvantage of portfolio analysis is the use of data about the current state of the company, which cannot always be extrapolated into the future.