The Quaker Oats Company

| Most successful companies utilize business strategic planning to set priorities and goals for the organization's future; outcomes include short-term goals and long-term strategies.  A clearly written, well designed strategic plan can align business units, divisions and employees so that the vision of the management team and the mission of the company can be fulfilled.  As companies evolve and the environment changes it is critical for companies to maintain a disciplined execution of the strategic plan.However, if they are not

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).

As a company of this size, corporate planning is a vital function to deal with external and internal factors, in which, the company's goals or objectives are achieved. In addition, a well-defined strategic planning implemented will be the guidelines in dealing with each factor, such as, globalization, innovation, and

Within the various layers of the company there are different opinions about the added valie of long-term planning.

Strategic Planning is one of the most fundamental factors in the success of an organization. This research project will discuss the importance of strategic planning as well as the different components of strategic planning. Many organizations fail to accomplish their goals and tasks due to the lacking of strategic planning. In order for their businesses to be successful, organizations need to be well informed about how the strategic planning process works.

According to Soriano, the companies had developed their budgeting and long-range planning system several year earlier but, despite the many advantages these gave them, they still were not satisfied with their ability to respond to the rapid changes in the environment around them. They, therefor, search for a process that would enable them to upgrade their planning capability.

Glaister, K, W and Falshaw, J, R, 1999, ‘Strategic planning still going strong’, Long Range Planning,

In this case, we have really two different points of view: in one side, there is Philip Anderson, the Phoenix branch manager of Stuart & Co., who manages a team with his ways, his idea, his experience but the results do not reach the targets fixed by the firm. In the other side, there is the direction of Stuart & Co., which has opposite ideas to Philip Anderson.

Every organisation must plan every action it intends to take, in the short-term as well as in the long-term. The company, on the basis of the objectives set by the top management of the organisation should plan for growth, expansion, restructuring of business or otherwise. Every company needs to plan out its strategies according to its future plans in order to avoid surprises and to overcome any challenges they may have to face. Therefore, without planning, the organisation cannot achieve any of its goals.

Planning is a process of establishing a mission with clear goals as a means to achieve them. Good planning requires special skills and perspectives allowing decision-makers to understand the challenges they are facing and apply the most effective solution to a problem. In order to achieve success, one must plan accordingly. Planning can be short term or long term. Short term plans are done on daily basis and are easier to achieve than long term plans. Long term plans are also known as strategic plans and are used to achieve a long range vision or mission of a company. In both methods of planning, short term and long term, is necessary to achieve top notch results. Like in any other process, there are both benefits and pitfalls to a

Organizing :- After knowing the way the organization behaved Ralph Ocker then organized how and what has to be done,

activities are combined and arranged into a working plan for the desired period. The usefulness of

Managers and organisations plan because it provides them with some direction and reduces uncertainty within the firm. It is also used to set standards for controlling, it is therefore very important within organisations. (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter et al, 2006)

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.