Strategic Planning In the business world, strategic planning is an essential process for successful businesses, which helps to shape their future path. Unlike other planning methods, strategic planning is a long term planning process which can include a tree to five year look-ahead. Strategic planning is used to give all employees, including management, focus and direction, as well as the ability to keep an end goal in sight. This task, normally conducted on an annual basis, is given to senior management and can take several days to complete. During the strategic planning process, several questions are considered. Things such as a firm’s strengths and weaknesses, current competitors, current market trends, and customer direction. Before the planning session starts, the marketing team will put together a top-line revenue forecast, going out 3-5 years. All business areas within the firm lay out their strengths and weaknesses, then the research and development team submits a detailed list of technology trends, which affect the industry.
Throughout the planning process, mission statements are evaluated, SWOT analysis is done in each business function, the marketing and sales forecast is presented and each group creates an execution plan to accomplish those goals. A review of the spending budget is also included. When the planning session has ended, all information is compiled and the finance team puts forth and set of pro forma financial statements, which are a type of
Strategic planning within a company is a tool used in companies that help mature areas in total quality management. This type of planning creates a cohesive management system for lower level employees to better adapt in. “Strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next year or more and how it 's going to get there. Typically, the process is organization-wide, or focused on a major function such as a division, department or other major function”(McNamara, 2008). In order to plan effectively one must first make a clear assessment of the plan and have an analysis on the corporations mission statement and objective.
The planning process begins with a situation analysis of the external and internal forces affecting the organization. This examination helps identify and diagnose issues and problems and may bring to the surface alternative goals and plans for the firm. Next, the advantages and disadvantages of these goals and plans should be evaluated against one another. Once a set of goals and a plan have been selected, implementation involves communicating the plan to employees, allocating resources, and making certain that other systems such as rewards and budgets are supporting the plan. Finally, planning requires instituting control systems to monitor progress toward the goals.
Strategic planning is an integral process of an organization defining its strategies and direction and making decisions to allocate available resources to peruse laid strategies, which provides the organizations which a competitive edge over their competitors.
Dissimilar sources plan altered steps involved in the planning process, but in this case I will discuss on seven steps that are involved in the entire process. The first step is goal setting. This basically involves coming up with the main objectives and goals that the company wishes to establish within a particular period of time. It is a very important section because the company will operate with a view of the goal in mind, if it is not clearly established, and then the business could lose direction along the way. After goal setting, we have development of the planning premises, where the plans are prepared and any underlying conditions defined. This is where there is an assessment of the environment and any constraints or
Strategic planning is the management activity of an organization to achieve the organization’s goals through setting priorities, focusing activities and resources, working of employees and stakeholders, agreement establishment, and evaluation of the organization’s direction (Balanced Scorecard Institute, 2015).
Strategic planning will show what direction the business is going to achieve its aims. The planning may last for up to 4 years and is drawn
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
Strategic Planning is the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organizations goals and capabilities as well as emerging market conditions and opportunities. This process begins with a clear company mission statement. However, this is only a small piece of a dynamic and perpetual process. Other activities involved with strategic planning also include setting supporting organizational objectives, designing a sound product mix as well as coordinating functional strategies. Strategic planning works to set the groundwork for the rest of the subsidiary planning functions in the company.
Strategic plans are used for long term planning (2-10 years). They are used to allow time to plan for changes which take a long time to occur. These might include new plants or distribution centers.
Strategic planning involves making decisions about the organization’s long-term goals and strategies and how the organization decides to implement their goals (Bateman, Snell, Konopaske, pg. 113). Strategies help organizations to have a clear perspective on how to go about accomplishing the goals they have in place. All organizations have a clear vision of what their mission and purpose as a company is, they know how to fulfill the mission, vision, and purpose and they know how to ensure that they accomplish all their goals. However, the route the organization takes to define these things determines how effective they will be.
"The strategic management process centers on the belief that a firm's mission can be best achieved through a systematic and comprehensive assessment of both its internal capabilities and its external environment." (Pearce and Robinson, 2004). The planning process begins with the mission statement.
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 planning is the process of gathering information from stakeholders, market players, professional entity, and government agency. The purpose of gathering information is formulating a realistic and a workable framework that any organization can implement and work with. Evaluation of information is a key aspect in determine the kind of plans that the organization wish to a chive over certain a period. Strategic planning ensures the implementation is, crafted well, and parties involved be acquitted with it. Developing a good Strategic plan helps a company to implement its missions and visions effectively, and helps the company to evaluate
Strategic Planning set the stage for the rest of the planning in the firm. It involves defining a clear company mission, setting supporting company objectives, designing a sound business portfolio and coordinating functional strategies. At corporate level the company first defines its overall purpose and mission.
Strategic planning is an organizational management activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, ensure that employees and other stakeholders are working toward common goals,