Building a strategic plan or engaging in
strategic planning can make a difference, particularly when it has a long-term
focus and is used as a management tool, rather than simply being an exercise in
forms completion. Traditional strategic planning can be broken down into
four sequential steps:
- market research
- strategy formulation and planning
- strategy implementation
- results measurement and control
Market research to determine customer needs and
identify future market trends is usually the initial step in strategic planning.
Managers use the market research to define company mission, goals, and strategic
plans for one, three, and five years. Company mission statements become refined
by specifying financial, market share, and product mix goals. Implementation
generally occurs through official directives and control systems that flow
through divisions, departments, sections, and eventually to individuals. Each
individual receive a set of objectives that, if achieved, allow the company to
attain its mission and goals. Control systems focus on individual outputs or
behaviors in the organization. Controlling outputs emphasizes results through
management by objectives.
The strategy formulation and planning process
consists of the following primary building blocks:
- assessment of the company's current
position
- identification of the company's desired
position
- evaluation of the strategic gap between
the two and the critical issues to be resolved in order to close the gap
- formulation of strategies and action steps
to resolve the critical issues
This website presents a creative model of the
strategic panning process. The major steps links to the right presents the
specific steps in involved in the planning process. In addition, strategic
plan templates and tools are provided so you can develop an excellent
strategic plan yourself. The set of strategic plan templates and tools
are designed to help you cover all the various elements that go into the
development of well thought out and comprehensive strategic plan.
Business managers are constantly faced with
strategic choices, such as developing a new competitive approach to an existing
market, evaluating a potential merger or acquisition, or divesting core products
or businesses. While the circumstances surrounding the choice may be unique to a
particular company, these decisions themselves are similar to those that
regularly confront top management in every industry. Such choices often require
substantial commitment of time and resources and may have broad, long-lasting
effects. The strategic plan templates & tools provide a framework for
decision making. |