Strategic management APT

Intro

• The senior team has created ‘a rolling three year strategic plan’ which is ‘reviewed and updated quarterly’. We are also told that SHL has several strategic objectives, the majority of which need to be achieved by 2016. 

The Role & importance of Strategic Planning in general 

• Strategic planning involves carrying out a number of analytical & evaluative procedures in order to determine SMART objectives.
• Key stages invloved in strategic planning: 

1. Analysing the business environment, its market(s) and resources.

2. Identifying and evaluating strategic options, and setting realistic strategic objectives.

3. Planning the implementation of strategy.

4. Structuring the organisation and designing control systems to achieve the objectives. 

The Role & importance of Strategic planning in general 

Strategic Analysis to Determine Objectives and Strategy are needed before an objective is set:

• Reviewing the environment in which the organisation operates. Is it changing rapidly / slowly or is it static?
• Identifying and analysing social, legal, economic, political and technological changes.
• Undertaking a market survey – estimating the total market for its products – domestic and overseas; identifying whether markets are growing, static, or declining, and whether customer needs are changing.
• Researching the competition – calculating market share and assessing the strengths / weaknesses of the competition –
• to identify where the business stands. Is it a small, medium or large player?
• Auditing its resources to determine the firm’s potential in relation to each of its products.
• Making predictive assumptions as to what internal / external factors might alter in the future period. 

These processes can be costly and time consuming