Good Evening,
I have been in the military most of my adult life, so I will speak from a military standpoint because I know plenty of this information by heart due to lots of training and planning. A strategic plan allows organizations to anticipate things that are most likely to happen and prepare accordingly. The military strategy provides the efficient means to fulfill policy; the other
prime component of defense policy is the force structure or instrumentalities to execute policy. The clarity with which policy will be defined will provide clear military objectives and thus facilitate efficient and focused strategy. Strategic planning helps the military cope with uncertainty, not reduce or eliminate it. Perhaps more importantly, strategic planning provides a
means of identifying and illuminating issues to influence today's decisions about the military of the future.
An example would be the War on Iraq or the conflict in Southeast Asia, where our leaders had to think big picture for the troops on the ground to accomplish their specific missions. The military requires the most capable strategic leaders it can produce, as the decisions made by those future strategic leaders impact not only the army's soldiers but also the nation's future.
The business strategy differs from the military but has a similar core: reaching an advantage and defending it. Military strategies aim to defeat the enemy directly, while businesses intend to beat competitors by taking their market share. There are always legal considerations when the military operates in different locations; this is where my knowledge ends. I will have to consult with our legal time to see what issues we face in strategic planning before executing missions.
