“If we don’t know which way our business
is heading, every path will lead us to goal.”
Ancient Greek word strategos, strategy means the art of
general-warrior, who manages the units and combats, and is
responsible for them.
Strategic planning determines where an organization is going
over the next year or more, how it's going to get there and
how it'll know if it got there or not. The focus of a strategic
plan is usually on the entire organization, while the focus
of a business plan is usually on a particular product, service
or program.
Preparing the strategic plan is basic for successful and
properly business management. Managers can often loose long-term
goals from sight just by putting planning aside due to dealing
with daily obligations. Although strategic planning does
not guarantee success, but without it chances for failure
are much bigger.
There are a variety of perspectives, models and approaches
used in strategic planning. The way, a strategic plan is
developed depends on the nature of the organization's leadership,
culture of the organization, complexity of the organization's
environment, size of the organization, expertise of planners,
etc. There are a variety of strategic planning models, including
goal-based, issues-based, organic, scenario (some would assert
that scenario planning is more a technique than model), etc.
Some planners prefer a particular approach to planning,
appreciative inquiry. Some plans are scoped to one year,
many to three years, and some to five to ten years into the
future. Some plans include only top-level information and
no action plans. Some plans are five to eight pages long,
while others can be considerably longer.
Strategic planning includes:
- review of the market conditions,
- client needs
- competition assessment
- social, legal and economical
conditions,
- technological growth requirements,
- access to resources
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