vladimirgrebenar 
One of the more important questions for an entrepreneur believer is whether an entrepreneur should plan long term and have a vision of the success of the business organization he leads or is an area that must be left to providence so that God leads business development while the entrepreneur should focus on everyday.
This is a question that requires careful consideration and discernment in the search for answers and truth. First of all, an answer needs to be given as to why entrepreneurs and managers are planning and whether they should plan at all. Also, the question is in what kind of macroeconomic environment the entrepreneur finds himself and what can be under his influence. Economic theorists have developed a philosophical construct of a perfect market in which there is no need to plan.
If there were a perfect market and perfect competition[1] as described by the father of market economy Adam Smith, planning as one of the five functions of management and planning as one of the four qualitative steps of the management process[2] would significantly lose its purpose. A perfect market means that none of the customers or bidders has the ability to influence market mechanisms, supply, demand and prices, and customers are perfectly informed about everything important to buy, as well as bidders, the business starts easily and exits easily. So, we plan because we do not know perfectly and that is why we try to make the best use of available resources by planning.
Perfect market theory serves economic theorists to more easily explain economic phenomena, and thus planning. According to the general definition, a market is a combination of supply and demand, ie a place where a certain offered quantity of products and services of a certain number of bidders meet in a certain period of time with a certain number of potential buyers in the same geographical area and with certain economic conditions.
Given that man has been imperfect at the level of the individual and society throughout his history, it is quite understandable that as such he has not been able to create a perfect market. A perfect market implies that an “invisible hand”[3] governs a market order called a “market mechanism”. Adam Smith realized and was amazed at what order exists in a market system when individuals are allowed to produce and create at their own discretion and when individuals are allowed to buy for themselves what they want.
In other words, in the free exchange market, a phenomenon occurs that Smith described as some invisible force (an invisible hand) that governs order in the market and fairly distributes the wealth of the people. Smith realized that when individuals are allowed to produce what they want for their personal life interest that they actually make optimal use of natural resources at the societal (state) level and make a perfect distribution of economic goods according to which such individual freedom contributes to state development.
Smith publicly professed Christianity and for him there was no doubt that man’s faith was the answer to the question of business success and prosperity. Smith was also as a layman a great philosopher and moral theologian of the 18th century with a focus on economics. He explained the interpretation of the invisible hand in the free market as the complete sovereignty of God to rule in order both in the Universe and in the free market.
It is a fascinating realization that the originator of the free market, on whose philosophical and theological assumptions the advanced free market economy was created, considered the complete freedom of the individual to create, and the importance of personal faith as the most important criteria for individual success. The success of the state is determined by the success of the individual who, even if not consciously guided as an “invisible hand”, contributes to the fairest distribution of national wealth at the level of the whole society.
According to Smith, that invisible hand is without a doubt the Creator himself. Smith had a major influence on American constitutional amendments that still guarantee market freedom today and are considered to be the foundation of modern entrepreneurship. Certainly, the doctrine of the free market and the invisible hand has had a tremendous impact on the development and prosperity of the United States, and that influence has not disappeared even today.
Let us now return to the question of whether an entrepreneur should plan if planning is actually a consequence of human weaknesses at the level of the individual and society as a whole. First of all, it should be understood that there are at least three types of business plans with respect to the time period for which they are adopted: 1) long-term planning of three to five years and longer, 2) mdium-term planning of one to three years and 3) short-term planning of up to one years.
The longer the time frame for which the plan is adopted, the less predictable the circumstances and the less likely the plan itself is to be realized. It is undeniable that there must be a plan for some operational and project work that is carried out over several months. For example, can a house or a building be built without a plan, or can field crops be sown without a plan, can classes be held at a university without a curriculum…? Obviously, a predictable plan at the job level of up to a year is necessary.
However, when plans are made for four or more years, things are not so simple. Such long-term plans are called strategic, and the planned outcome of such a plan is called a vision of success. The vision of success is the third element that is necessarily defined along with the values and mission of the entrepreneur. What is the vision of entrepreneurial success? The vision must be value-based and must be in line with the mission.
This may not seem to have much to do with spirituality, however values, mission, and vision are strongly associated with spirituality. Statements about the mission, values and vision of the company are like “principles and foundations” from spiritual exercises[4] as defined by St. Ignatius when he gave the answer to the question of who man is, why he was created and what his purpose is.
Reflections on principle and foundation are the beginning of every Ignatian spiritual exercise for all who want to base their lives on God’s values, discover their own life mission which is God’s will, and believe in the success of attaining eternal life. Reflecting on the mission, values, and vision of a business organization is an area of entrepreneurial spirituality when entrepreneurs and managers need to answer the question of why a business organization exists, what are the core values of our organization, and whether our job is to bless and celebrate God’s name.
If all entrepreneurs and managers considered Christian spiritually the question of what is the mission, what are the values, and what is the vision of success of the company, the effect of a perfect market would occur, because everyone would know what to produce and competition between business organizations would not be hostile to others. On the contrary, it would face greater challenges of co-creation.
Instead of looking through the “sights” of what others are doing, everyone would look to Heaven and the Creator of all creation, where all blessed creativity and innovation comes from. Progress in the world is not made by entrepreneurs who are afraid and make decisions “against” in fear, but by entrepreneurs who take the initiative and with faith start their business ventures always for new creations.
The vision of a business organization is faith in success, and a good vision is one that is not directed against others, or the selfish success of entrepreneurs and managers, but a vision of success to the satisfaction of customers, business partners, employees, entrepreneurs and managers. Such a vision is a seemingly harder path to success, but the only path that is true. Entrepreneurs and managers are allowed to have such a vision of success, because it builds others and testifies to man’s mission of creation and life for the community. The realization of such a vision will surely have great spiritual temptations from the opposite spirit of laziness and lies.
Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs and managers today have a distorted picture of success, seeing themselves in the first place or their family ahead of the family of workers. By their deeds they do not bear witness to the faith. Even greater damage to the church is done by those who devalue the work of their employees or keep them on minimum wages, and publicly profess the faith. Faith is justified by works.
These are all characteristics of successful entrepreneurs that have been scientifically proven as necessary behaviors for true business success. The vision of success is for the believer a matter of faith, and faith is above all the doing of the will of God. The will of God is known in peace and quiet. It has been proven that successful entrepreneurs spend a lot of time in peace and quiet, in distinguishing the best business decisions.[5]
[1] The theoretical concept of perfect competition was developed by Adam Smith in his work “The Wealth of Nations” in 1776, which represents a philosophical-theoretical setting of a market economy.
[2] PDCA (plan-do-check-act) is an iterative approach to process management developed by William E. Deming and represents the foundation of modern management according to which all important processes and activities in the company must first be planned, then executed according to plan, then controlled according to plan and according to the plan to correct.
[3] Adam Smith described the phenomenon of the “invisible hand”
[4] Sv. Ignatius of Loyola. Spiritual exercises. Note 23.
[5] The article was published with minor changes in: Veritas. Glasnik Sv. Antuna Padovanskog. Croatian Province of St. Jerome of the Franciscan Conventuals. Zagreb. Sveti Duh 31. No. 10. October 2019. p. 20.