strategic planning

(noun)

An organization's process of defining its direction and making decisions on allocating resources to pursue that direction.

Related Terms

Examples of strategic planning in the following topics:

  • Overview of Types of Strategic Plans

    • The broader overview of strategic plans, as well as the five subgroups within strategic planning, provide businesses with direction.
    • Strategic management leverages strategic planning in order to design and execute a variety of plans specifically created to approach various facets of the business and competitive environment.
    • It is worth analyzing the broader overview of strategic plans, as well as the five subgroups within strategic planning that provide businesses with an outline of their strategic direction.
    • Strategic plans are what communicate the corporate strategy, direction, and resource allocation.
    • Long-range plans are those most closely related to the overall strategic-planning process.

  • Defining Strategic Planning

    • Strategic planning is concerned with defining company goals and determining the resources needed to achieve them.
    • Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy and making decisions on how to allocate resources to pursue that strategy.
    • Strategic planning generally deals with at least one of three key questions:
    • There are many approaches to strategic planning, but typically one of the following approaches is used.
    • Assess the definition of planning in context with strategy and the various planning process approaches

  • Implementing Strategy

    • Strategic planning involves managing the implementation process, which translates plans into action.
    • One of the core goals when drafting a strategic plan is to develop it in a way that is easily translated into action plans.
    • Most strategic plans address high-level initiatives and overarching goals but are not always translated into the day-to-day projects and tasks required to achieve the plan.
    • Poor terminology or word choice and the wrong level of writing are both examples of ways to fail to translate a strategic plan so that it makes sense and is executable.
    • The strategic management process never ends.

  • Fulfilling the Planning Function

    • Planning is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve strategic objectives.
    • Generally, strategic planning deals with at least one of three key questions:
    • The key components of strategic planning include an understanding of the firm's vision, mission, values, and strategies.
    • There are many approaches to strategic planning, but typically one of the following is used:
    • Illustrate the primary considerations and influencing factors for organizations when pursuing strategic planning

  • The Overall Strategy

    • As there is always an element of uncertainty about the future, strategy is more about a set of options ("strategic choices") than a fixed plan.
    • Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its overall strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy.
    • Generally, strategic planning deals with three key questions:
    • "The Value of Formal Planning for Strategic Decisions: A Reply".
    • The key components of strategic planning include an understanding of the firm's vision, mission, values, and strategies.

  • The Importance of Strategy

    • Strategic management is critical to the development and expansion of all organizations.
    • Strategic planning is the formal consideration of an organization's future course, and all strategic planning deals with at least one of three key questions:
    • In business-related strategic planning, the third question refers more to beating or avoiding competition.
    • It involves specifying the organization's mission, vision, and objectives; developing policies and plans to achieve these objectives; and then allocating resources to implement the policies and plans.
    • Evaluate the implications of the three key questions defining strategic planning

  • Planning a Project

    • The stages of a project within the strategic-planning discipline provide a step-by-step approach to generating and implementing an effective strategy, for either a corporation or a strategic business unit (SBU).
    • Implementing a framework for generating a project-planning cycle, complete with strategic objectives, implementation methods, and assessment, is a primary responsibility of strategic managers.
    • Monitoring the operation for ways to increase value can redirect the strategic-planning cycle back to the planning-and-design stage.
    • As shown in the figure, there are five basic strategic management steps in the planning cycle.
    • Outline the five basic stages in the planning cycle as derived within the field of strategic management

  • Overview of Inputs to Strategic Planning

    • Strategic plans can take the form of business or marketing plans, and consultants and industry experts are used in their development.
    • Strategic management is the highest of these levels in the sense that it is the broadest—it applies to all parts of the firm and incorporates the longest time horizon.
    • Business strategy refers to the aggregated strategies of a single business firm or a strategic business unit (SBU) in a diversified corporation.
    • A strategic business unit is a semi-autonomous unit that is usually responsible for its own budgeting, new product decisions, hiring decisions, and price setting.
    • A marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan.

  • Benefits of Strategic Planning: Focus, Action, Control, Coordination, and Time Management

    • This is how planning achieves focus.
    • This is alleviated through detail-oriented planning processes.
    • Perhaps the most important benefit of developing business and marketing plans is the nature of the planning process itself.
    • The plan and the discussions that arise from it provide an agreed context for subsequent management activities, even those not described in the plan itself.
    • Identify the critical benefits derived through utilizing business and marketing plans in strategic management

  • Strategic Management

    • Strategic management entails five steps: analysis, formation, goal setting, structure, and feedback.
    • It entails specifying the organization's mission, vision, and objectives, as well as developing policies and plans which allocate resources to drive growth and profitability.
    • As strategic management is a large, complex, and ever-evolving endeavor, it is useful to divide it into a series of concrete steps to illustrate the process of strategic management.
    • Risk assessments and contingency plans are also developed based upon external forecasting.
    • This information will be used to restart the planning process, or reinforce the success of the previous strategy.