Strategic Plans, Business Plans, and Contingency Plans

Do you need a strategic plan and/or business plan ?

Start-up financing / growth financing presentation to lenders or investors
Getting everybody working from the same sheet of music
Setting priorities / making the best use of limited resources
Evaluating some long-term strategic alternatives
Outlining goals and objectives, staffing levels, budgets, etc.
Trying to play catch-up with key competitors
Seeking to maximize the value of the company over time
Just need a feasibility study for a particular new venture

If Plan A isn't working....do you have a Plan B ?

Many highly successful and well-known companies such as Google and Starbucks actually "scrapped" their original business plans in order to purse better opportunities that were later discovered in the marketplace.

What about an overall contingency plan ?

Is the company ready for a natural disaster ?
Loss of the owner or key employees ?
Loss of a major customer ?