The business plan is the subject of many satires. Satires are used both to
express cynicism about business plans and as an educational tool to improve the
quality of business plans. For example,
- Five Criteria for a
successful business plan in biotech uses Dilbert comic strips to remind
people of what not to do when researching and writing a business
plan for a biotech start-up. Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert, is an MBA
graduate (U.C. Berkeley) who sees humor as a critical tool that can
improve the behavior of businesses and their managers. He has written
numerous critiques of business practices, including business planning. The
website Dilbert.com - Games has a mission statement generator that
satirizes the wording often found in mission statements. His book The
Dilbert Principle – A Cubicle’s Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, and
Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions discusses the foibles of
management and their plans as depicted in the Dilbert comic strips by Scott
Adams.
- In the article "South Park's" Investing Lesson, The
Motley Fool columnist "Fool on the Hill" uses the Underpants
Gnomes to illustrate the fallacy of focusing on goals without a clear
implementation strategy. The Underpants Gnomes episode satirizes the
business plans of the Dot-com era.
