Recent Project and Job Topics > Strategy
Strategic Planning
Business strategies smoothen the process of achieving business objectives and goals of the company in order to keep stakeholders satisfied. In a company where strategy is applied, the performance indicators of the company will automatically align themselves to the goals of the company. In short, strategic planning is an important process to create and implement business strategy. Strategic planning need not necessarily be done by the top management of the company, in business strategies like balanced scorecard - employees at every level starting from the bottom to the top level are involved in designing their performance indicators. This makes each and every employee contribute towards the overall business goals of the company.
However, strategic planning takes off from there, where based on the balanced scorecard, the company judges the overall climate of the market and the economy and decides to plan for any present or future possibilities. This can be based on competitor's performance, business forecasts, economic climate, or even the company's annual performance. Strategic planning is an evolving process and needs a strategic management drive to see it through.
Key elements of Strategic planning
Strategic planning process is more of a strategic management process and requires different approaches whichever is more suited to the company's objectives. There are different kinds of approaches like:
- The Three - Step strategic planning approach: In this the strategic management process looks at the:
o situation - evaluating the overall situation,
o target - deciding the goals and objectives,
o path - defining a path or proposal of the company
- The Draw - See - Think strategic planning approach: In this process the strategic management looks at:
o Draw - An ideal state or the end purpose of the business is ideal,
o See - Studying the current situation to evaluate the company's performance,
o Think - Analysing the gaps and pitfalls of the business
o Plan - Identifying the resources required to fill the gaps in the business performance
- The See - Think - See strategic planning approach: In this process, the strategic management looks at the alternative to the above approach to get another way of looking at achieving the company's objectives.
What is the Strategic Management process?
This is mainly the 'within Organisational studies' where the company's overall performance is analysed and reviewed to see whether they have achieved the goals or objectives stated in the vision and mission of the company. If not, it helps create the road map to achieve them. The strategic management process is evolving and deals with identifying the three important action steps, viz. feasibility, suitability and acceptability of the strategic plan. Strategic management can only be achieved successfully if these three criteria are met effectively before the planning stage.
Business strategies like the balanced scorecard implement the strategic management process within the performance indicators of each and every department in the company and every individual contributing to the profits of the company. In this way, strategic planning and strategic management on the whole become a more wholesome experience and responsibility for everyone.
Most firms hire experts or consultancy organizations to provide expert advice on the right strategies suited for their unique business objectives. Strategic planning is usually formulated better with an expert outside the organization to give the company's management an overall perspective of the company's standing. In this way, organizations look beyond their industry and market segments and are able to plan for the future economic circumstances.
