The strategic management process helps you first to understand you business’s current situation and trends, next to determine a direction and desired state for the business, and finally to understand and identify what must be done to close the gap between the organizations’s current and desired positions.
Strategic management encompasses tasks listed as below, each building on that precedes it:
- Strategic Learning requires understanding the firm’s operations and results. Learning also requires that you continually scan the environment and process the relevant information. The goal is to acquire a profound knowledge of the business and the environment in which it is operating.
- Strategic Thinking is a creative and analytical activity that builds on the knowledge developed in the learning what you want to do in a strategic sense and the issues that must be addressed for success.
- Strategic Planning has the aim of determining how best to address strategic issues to achieve your strategic objectives.
- Strategic action involves the implementation and execution of the strategic plans. Strategic action should involve activity at all levels of the organization.
A diligent completion of the tasks and a willingness to learn – to see things in new ways – are prerequisites for an effective strategic management process.
You see, strategic thinking requires creativity which generates wide ranges of option to be considered. The more options you develop, the more likely you are to find the best one. Strategic thinking also encompasses a series of strategic choices that should be guided by the vision, mission, and values of the organization, including the following (at least):
- What business do you want to be in?
- In what direction do you want to take the business?
- What are the goals of the business?
- How are you going to compete?
- What functional strategies do you need to be successful?
The functional strategies involve creating competencies through out the organization to support the business strategy. The functions are generally considered to included marketing, production/operations, human resources, and finance. Detailed plans should be developed for various levels of the organization, all consistent with the articulated strategy.
Finally, the action phase of strategic management involves implementing the strategic plans. All members of the organization are involved in this phase of activity every day, whether mindful of it or not. As you develop your strategic management skills:
Keep in mind that the strategic management process is deceptively simple: Learn, think, plan, and do. The devil is in the implementation.
Develop a profound knowledge of your business and its environment: These initial steps of the strategic management process build a foundation for the subsequent ones.
Assess constantly throughout the strategic management process: Continually review you implementation choices for consistency and fit.
Continuous improvement is a requisite of competitiveness. Never let it rest. :)
