Sunday, May 27, 2012

Strategic Planning - Who & Why


Who should be involved in strategic planning and why?

Good strategic planning is a sign of a managerial excellence. It is an active forward-thinking process that is taken to ensure a successful future, or thinking in time (inter connectivity of past, present and future).[1] As such, the managers, leaders and owners of a business should understand the importance of this task. Strategic management looks to future while fully understanding the presence. They need to be able to clearly define where their business is now, where they want it to go and how they want to get there.


To develop a sound strategic plan, the strategic thinker must consider the following:

1. What are the customer needs now?
2. What will be the customers’ needs in future?
3. Which customer group is being addressed?
4. Will this group be the prime target for future?
5. What is the process by which the customer is being satisfied?
6. Will this process need to be changed for future success?
7. Define the corporate culture for past, present and future.[2]

Once these crucial observations are made, then the strategic management process starts by developing a strategy, setting objectives, crafting a strategy, implementing it and finally ending with evaluation and corrective action. This process should be an ongoing process.[3]






[1] Strategic thinking versus strategic planning: towards understanding the complementarities Source: Management Decision; Volume: 40; Issue: 5; 2002
[2] Strategic thinking: the ten big ideas Author(s): Robert J. Allio Source: Strategy & Leadership; Volume: 34 Issue: 4; 2006 (in Regent’s Databases)
[3] Strategic Management by  Dr Ian Mackechnie –" found online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we6qhkaPjR8&feature=related

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