The Effect of Formal Strategic Planning on Firm Performance and Job Satisfaction

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.

For a goal-oriented person, a strategic plan can set direction and serves as a template for consistent decision making that moves the organization toward its envisioned future (Zuckerman, 2013). On the other hand, Zuckerman (2013), poses a different perspective that states that strategic planning may not be strategic after all, becomes as I explained before, it can become a checklist technique that lacks innovative practices. However, the outcome of the strategic planning process relates further to the mission and vision of those who are developing the strategies than in the planning within itself. Therefore, the reality is that strategic planning can be as straightforward and complex as an organization wants it to be. Therefore, if an organization envisions growth, the proposal needs to provoke that, and if a team is only planning to organize itself; then, the plan can be subtler. Therefore, organization can review plans as often as yearly and can last as long as five

In the article Mintzberg (1984, pp. 66) argues that companies are incorrectly planning strategy through rationale control, the analysis of competitors and markets, and of companies strengths and weaknesses, and combining all of this information to create their “full-blown strategies”. Inkpen & Choudhury (1995) believed that organisations that relied on strict set routines and focused on consistency would then be unable to become innovative and be able to experiment.

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).

Strategic planning is used for an organization’s mission statement, goals and objectives. Strategic planning defines how the organization will meet these goals and objectives. The organization usually has a time frame of about 5-10 years to meet these objectives. These objective and goals are evidenced based to use those resources available. There are three questions that the book states that should be used when defining strategic planning and they are 1) where do we want to be? 2) where are we now? and 3) what’s the best way of getting from where we are to where we wat

Even though companies have almost similar external conditions, some companies enjoy huge success for years, while other fail miserably, that depends on the sound of strategic management which is a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under uncertain condition. Mintzberg and Waters (1985) stated it is necessary to analyse the strategic formulation and management for the following tasks:

In order for a business or corporation to grow and expand at a calculated pace, they must be able to strategize the proper business plan to get there. A strategy is a set of analytic techniques for understanding and influencing the firm 's position in the marketplace (Raimundo, 2001). Having a business

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 Case Study concerning MacFarlane solutions is an interesting one to note down regarding strategic planning in an organization. From the information given, it appears that the small business expanded merely due to the insight of Bill MacFarlane and the planning that he gave forward. (McDonald 2011 pg. 736) Bill started off after working in a firm and having an experience of more than forty years. He specialized in what he knew and then gave forward what he was good out. There was risk in his ventures as the expert started out, however he trusted his instincts and went out with the planning.

An organisation’s strategy plays an important role of providing direction of where company wants to be and how best to allocate the company’s resources to meet its objectives. The formulation of business strategies has evolved over the years and has been made more difficult in recent by the uncertain operating environments and global financial crises.

The strategic management is actually defined as the process in which an organization actually formats and also implements the plans which espouse the objectives and goals of that organization (Diana Wicks, 2011). The process of the strategic management is continuous and it changes with the evolution of the organizational goals and objectives.

‘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

Changing circumstances and ongoing management efforts to improve the strategy cause a company 's strategy to evolve over time—a condition that makes the task of crafting a strategy a work in progress,

According to Jones, Scholes and Whittington (2008, p. 402) “Strategic planning may take the form of systemised, step-by-step, chronological procedures to develop or coordinate an organisations strategy”.

Strategic planning is central to management study. It defines the long term direction for the company and all other business functions orbit around their established strategies. This article studies how a company formulates business-level strategies, optimize their competitive positioning and obtain a competitive advantage over their rivals.