GE: Strategic Thinking and Strategic Planning

This paper will discuss some of the primary components of a strategic management process, while also explain why the process is crucial for a company success. This paper in addition will evaluate one organization that uses the strategic management process to accomplish their short-term, long-term goals, and objectives of the firm’s (University of Phoenix. (2015).

Porter’s five forces model seeks to portray how attractive an industry is in relation to the five competitive forces which includes, threat of substitutes, threat of entry, bargaining power of customers, intensity of competitive rivalry and bargaining power of suppliers.

Porter’s Five Forces was developed in 1979 by Michael Porter as a framework to assess and evaluate the competitive position of a company in an industry. It is based on the theory that there are five forces which identify the attractiveness and competitive strength of an industry. It is helpful to gain an understanding of a firm’s current positon and the position that the firm may look to capture in the future. Porter’s five forces are also used to

Strategic planning is an extroverted approach to long term planning. The top-level management generally achieves the vision of the business by using this process. Strategic development is concentrated towards the planning of vision, mission, and oppositions of the business. The analytical process examines the macro and microenvironment. This process defines the question of where the organization wants to be in the future and what needs to be done to lead the company towards its final goal. This procedure is not to be implemented for one specific department but instead, for the entire business. The SWOT Analysis, PEST Analysis, Porter’s 5 forces Analysis, BCG Matrix and Portfolio Analysis are tools that help the executives design the strategy

Strategic planning can dictate the success of any organization if properly planned as well as the failure of an organization if not implemented as planned. Strategic planning is all about making choices. It is a process designed to support leaders in being intentional about their goals and methods. Simply stated, strategic planning is a management tool, and like any management tool, it is used for one purpose only—to help an organization do a better job. This portion of the strategic plan will explain why an

In his article, “The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning,” Henry Mintzberg (1994) provides his views on the process of strategic planning. He offers that most companies and organizations start a strategic planning process with little understanding of the definition or actual purpose of planning. He tends to admonish much of the conventional understanding concerning strategic planning and proposes his interpretations. He states that “the most successful strategies are visions, not plans” (Mintzberg, 1994, p. 107).

Now moving straight to what exactly is the five forces analysis of Porter. Examining the intensity of rivalry within an industry and business strategy improvement is what this analysis is framed for. Drawing upon industrial organisation economics to resolve the driven concentration and thus attractiveness, meaning

This paper begins with a summary view to develop the concept of strategy and why its implementation is difficult. The following sections then cover the core discussion of this paper to support the aforementioned

Communication is key in sharing information, promoting strategic thinking, and foster relationships by working in teams within the organization. Executives could have managers start by participating in strategic thinking with community groups and local businesses (Goldman, 2007). Organization strategic thinking should urge employees to look ahead for opportunities as to avoid being in constant reactive mode. It is essential to communicate that strategic thinking is goal oriented, planned over a length of time, and tied to the mission and goals of the organization. It is significant to match employees with mentors when you can to aid in developing and fostering strategic thinking skills in addition to rewarding employees when possible (Goldman, 2007).

Strategic planning is defiantly a good management tool that is used for the purpose of helping the organization to do a better job. In reality being strategic means being clear about the organization 's objectives, being aware of the organization 's resources, and incorporating both into being consciously responsive to where the organization wants to go. At times strategic planning can be complex, challenging, and even messy, but in the end it is an ideal tool for managers to use in outlining the organizations future (Poister & Streib, 2005).

Porter's five forces is a model introduced in 1979 by Michael Porter and used by companies for industry analysis and corporate strategy development. The five forces include competition, supplier strength, customer power, the potential for new companies joining the industry, and the threat of substitute products.

According to literature, strategic planning is vital for strategic management. Burgelman (1994) points that strategic planning is a process which decides how, when and who is going to plan and how the results will be implemented. Drucker (1974) identified that the planning for an organization’s future that includes setting major overall objectives, the determination of basic approaches to be used in

‘Strategic Management’ is a very complex term as many eminent researchers and scholars have had different views and conclusions on strategy. According to White (2004), “Strategic Management involves both systematically developing an idea together with its implications and testing the empirical validity & usefulness of that idea against the real world.” Thus strategy is not only about planning for future but also about confirming the validity of the hypothesis considered and implementing it successfully. Strategy formation may take various forms such as implicit, explicit or emergent. Implicit strategy is a strategy formed by intuitions of an individual. As per implicit strategists, strategic management is about reading the environment

Porter’s five forces analysis not only provides the ideas to create the strategic plan but also assesses the attractiveness of an industry.

Once a leader has a vision, and set goals, unless it is a very short term goal, then strategic planning is often the best model to use to see that vision come to light. Strategic planning focuses on the big picture, and uses long term planning models to successfully arrive at the established goals for a company (Simerson, 2011). A strategic plan is action focused, and sets the parameters for how to move a company towards goals (Barnat, n.d.). Strategic planning is often hard to implement within a business because it is difficult to define fully, and getting hung up on defining strategic planning can lead to confusion (Molvig, 1993). Strategic planning requires research. Because it is a long term planning model, it gives time for review and recognition while following the plan to fruition (Simerson, 2011). Using strategic