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			{{Short description\|Organizational decision making process}}
	{{Essay-entry}}
			{{Distinguish\|Strategic thinking}}
	'''Strategic planning''' involves defining objectives and developing strategies to reach those objectives. It may employ methods like ] to help clarify objectives and strategies. Strategic planning uses "the big picture" to pursue large scale, long term objectives. This is in contradistinction to "tactical" planning, which has to focus on short term, smaller objectives. "Long range" planning typically projects current activities and programs onto a model of the external world, thereby predicting likely results. "Strategic" planning tries to "create" more desirable future results by (a) influencing the outside world or (b) adapting current programs and actions so as to have more favorable outcomes in the external environment.
	{{~~TOCleft~~}}		{{Strategy}}
			'''Strategic planning''' is an ]'s ] of defining its ] or direction, and making ] on allocating its resources to attain strategic goals.
	Within business, strategic planning may provide overall direction and strategic management to a company or give specific direction in such areas as:

			Furthermore, it may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the strategy. Strategic planning became prominent in corporations during the 1960s and remains an important aspect of ]. It is executed by strategic planners or ]s, who involve many parties and research sources in their analysis of the organization and its relationship to the environment in which it competes.<ref name="Mintzberg and Quinn 1996">{{cite book
	* Financial strategies
			\| last1 = Mintzberg
	* Human resource/organizational development strategies
			\| first1 = Henry
	* Information technology deployments
			\| author-link = Henry Mintzberg
	* Marketing strategy
			\| last2 = Quinn
	* Other strategies with business objectives
			\| first2 = James B.
			\| year = 1996
			\| title = The Strategy Process: Concepts, Contexts, Cases \| publisher = Prentice Hall
			\| isbn = 978-0-13-234030-4}}</ref>

			''Strategy'' has many definitions, but it generally involves setting '''strategic goals''', determining actions to achieve the goals, setting a timeline, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources) in a given span of time. Often, Strategic planning is long term and organizational action steps are established from two to five years in the future.<ref>{{Cite book \|last=Daft \|first=Richard \|title=Management \|publisher=South-Western \|year=2008 \|isbn=978-981-4232-42-5 \|location=Singapore \|pages=214\|edition=8th }}</ref> The senior leadership of an organization is generally tasked with determining strategy. Strategy can be planned (intended) or can be observed as a pattern of activity (emergent) as the organization adapts to its environment or competes in the market.
	We want to do Strategic Planning to:

			Strategy includes processes of formulation and implementation; strategic planning helps coordinate both. However, strategic planning is analytical in nature (i.e., it involves "finding the dots"); strategy formation itself involves synthesis (i.e., "connecting the dots") via ]. As such, strategic planning occurs around the strategy formation activity.<ref name="Mintzberg and Quinn 1996"/>
	* Have the capability to obtain the desired objective
	* Fit well both with the external environment and with an ]'s resources and ] - it should appear feasible and appropriate
	* Have the capability of providing an organization with a ] - ideally through uniqueness and sustainability
	* Prove dynamic, flexible, and able to adapt to changing situations
	* Suffice on its own - specifically providing favorable outcomes without the need for cross-subsidization

			Strategic planning can be used in Project Management that focuses on the development of standard methodology that is repeatable and will result to high chances of achieving project objectives. This requires a lot of thinking process and interaction among stakeholders. Strategic planning in Project Management provides an organization the framework and consistency of action. In addition, it ensures communication of overall goals and understanding roles of teams or individual to achieve them. The commitment of top management must be evident throughout the process to reduce resistance to change, ensure acceptance, and avoid common pitfalls. Strategic Planning does not guarantee success but will help improve likelihood of success of an organization.<ref>{{Cite book \|last=Kerzner \|first=Harold \|title=Strategic Planning for Project Management Using a Project Management Maturity Model. \|publisher=John Wiley & Sons \|year=2001 \|isbn=0-471-40039-4 \|location=United States of America \|pages=15–40}}</ref>
	== Methodologies ==

			In educational institutions, strategic planning is also a need. We are already in a transitional period in which old practices are no longer permanent but require revision to meet the needs of academia, which is frustrating in the educational sector. To meet the changing needs of this new society, educational institutions must reorganize.<ref>{{Cite book \|last=McCune \|first=S.D. \|title=Guide to Strategic Planning for Educators \|publisher=Publication Sales, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development \|year=1986 \|isbn=0-87120-140-2 \|pages=1–6 \|language=en}}</ref> Finding ways to maintain achievements while improving effectiveness can be difficult for educational institutions. Keeping up with society's rapid changes. Some strategic planners are hesitant to address societal outcomes, so they often ignore them and assume they will happen on their own. Instead of defining the vision for how we want our children to live, they direct their attention to courses, content, and resources with the mistaken belief that societally useful outcomes will follow. When this occurs, the true strategic plan is never developed or implemented.<ref>Kaufman, R., & Herman, J. (1991). Strategic planning for a better society. ''Educational Leadership'', ''48''(7), 4-8.</ref>
	Most strategic planning methodologies depend on a three-step process (sometimes called the ''STP'' process):

			==Process==
	* '''Situation''' - evaluate the current situation and how it came about
			]
	* '''Target''' - define goals and/or objectives (sometimes called ideal state)
	* '''Path''' - map a possible route to the goals/objectives

			===Overview===
	An alternative approach is called ''Draw-See-Think''
			Strategic planning is a process and thus has inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes. This process, like all processes, has constraints. It may be formal or informal and is typically iterative, with feedback loops throughout the process. Some elements of the process may be continuous and others may be executed as discrete projects with a definitive start and end during a period. Strategic planning provides inputs for ], which guides the actual strategy formation. Typical strategic planning efforts include the evaluation of the organization's mission and strategic issues to strengthen current practices and determine the need for new programming.<ref name="book 1">{{cite book \|last1=Ingram \|first1=Richard \|title=Ten basic responsibilities of nonprofit boards \|date=2015 \|publisher=BoardSource \|location=Washington D.C. \|isbn=978-1-58686-148-3 \|page=42 \|edition=third}}</ref> The end result is the organization's strategy, including a diagnosis of the environment and competitive situation, a guiding policy on what the organization intends to accomplish, and key initiatives or action plans for achieving the guiding policy.<ref name="Rumelt2011">{{cite book
			\| last = Rumelt
			\| first = Richard P.
			\| year = 2011
			\| title = Good Strategy / Bad Strategy
			\| publisher = Crown Business
			\| isbn = 978-0-307-88623-1
			\| url-access = registration
			\| url = https://archive.org/details/goodstrategybads00rume
			}}</ref>

			] wrote in 1980 that formulation of competitive strategy includes consideration of four key elements:
	* '''Draw''' - what is the ideal image or the desired end state?
			#Company strengths and weaknesses;
	* '''See''' - what is today's situation? What is the gap from ideal and why?
			#Personal values of the key implementers (i.e., management and the board);
	* '''Think''' - what specific actions must be taken to close the gap between today's situation and the ideal state?
			#Industry opportunities and threats;
	* '''Plan''' - what resources are required to execute the activities?
			#Broader societal expectations.<ref name="Porter1980">{{cite book
	In general terms, strategic planning can proceed incrementally or ]arily.
			\| last = Porter
			\| first = Michael E.
			\| author-link = Michael Porter
			\| year = 1980
			\| title = Competitive Strategy \| publisher = Free Press
			\| isbn = 978-0-684-84148-9\| title-link = Competitive Strategy
			}}</ref>
			The first two elements relate to factors internal to the company (i.e., the internal environment), while the latter two relate to factors external to the company (i.e., the external environment).<ref name="Porter1980"/> These elements are considered throughout the strategic planning process.

			===Inputs===
	'''Strategic Planning as a Set of Logical and Creative Steps'''
			Data is gathered from various sources, such as interviews with key executives, review of publicly available documents on the competition or market, primary research (e.g., visiting or observing competitor places of business or comparing prices), industry studies, reports of the organization's performance, etc. This may be part of a ] program. Inputs are gathered to help establish a baseline, support an understanding of the competitive environment and its opportunities and risks. Other inputs include an understanding of the values of key stakeholders, such as the board, shareholders, and senior management. These values may be captured in an organization's ] and ] statements.

			===Activities===
	# Clarification of objective (end-state) to be pursued. The following terms have been used in the literature: desired end states, plans, policies, goals, objectives, strategies, tactics and actions. Definitions vary, overlap, and fail to achieve clarity. The following concept has been found useful. The items listed above may be organized in a hierarchy of means and ends and '''numbered''' as follows: Top Rank Objective (TRO), Second Rank Objective, Third Rank Objective, etc. From any rank, the objective in a lower rank answers to the question "How?" and the objective in a higher rank answers to the question "Why?" The exception is the Top Rank Objective (TRO): there is no answer to the "Why?" question. That is how the TRO is defined. An may help to clarify the concept presented above.
			{{quote box\|width = 300px\|quote=The essence of formulating competitive strategy is relating a company to its environment.\|source=]<ref name="Porter1980"/>}}
	# Information gathering and analysis. This includes an external assessment (such as ]), and an internal resource assessment. ] may be applied to both internal resource assessments and external assessments. ] (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis may be used to assess those aspects of the organization and the environment that are important to achieving the objective of the strategic plan. See exact of SWOTs.
			Strategic planning activities include meetings and other communication among the organization's leaders and personnel to develop a common understanding regarding the competitive environment and what the organization's response to that environment should be. A variety of strategic planning tools may be completed as part of strategic planning activities.
	# Evaluation of the feasibility of the objective in view of the SWOTs.
	# Strategy-development. This is a creative step that answers these four questions: How can we use the Strengths, stop the Weaknesses, exploit the Opportunities, and defend against the Threats in pursuit of the selected objective.
	# Developing Action Programs for the more attractive strategies, covering: Name of the strategy, Benefits to be expected from implementing this program, Actions: What will be done? Responsible persons: Who will be in charge of the program? Timing: When will the program start? When will it be completed? Location(s): Where will the program be implemented? Resources: What will be needed: people, money, information, other resources? Control System: How will progress be measured and reported? Rewards for performance, if any. Contingency plans: What will be done if results fall short?

			The organization's leaders may have a series of questions they want to be answered in formulating the strategy and gathering inputs.<ref name="Mintzberg and Quinn 1996" /><ref name="Drucker1954">{{cite book
	'''Strategy as Revolution'''
			\| last = Drucker
			\| first = Peter
			\| author-link = Peter Drucker
			\| year = 1954
			\| title = The Practice of Management \| url = https://archive.org/details/practiceofmanage00druc
			\| url-access = registration
			\| publisher = Harper & Row
			\| isbn = 978-0-06-091316-8}}</ref>

			===Outputs===
	* Identify the unquestioned beliefs in the organization and challenge them - look for opportunities to re-write the rules of the environment
			The output of strategic planning includes documentation and communication describing the organization's strategy and how it should be implemented, sometimes referred to as the strategic plan.{{cn\|date=March 2023}} The strategy may include a diagnosis of the competitive situation, a guiding policy for achieving the organization's goals, and specific action plans to be implemented.<ref name="Rumelt2011"/> A strategic plan may cover multiple years and be updated periodically.
	* Look for major discontinuities in technology and embrace such changes wholeheartedly - do not waste time making small incremental adjustments - stand by to create a completely new business model at any time
	** More a mind-set than a formal technique
	** Not rule or ritual-oriented, not reductionist, not reactive, not autocratic

			The organization may use a variety of methods of measuring and monitoring progress towards the '''strategic objectives''' and measures established, such as a ] or ]. Organizations may also plan their financial statements (i.e., balance sheets, income statements, and cash flows) for several years when developing their strategic plan, as part of the goal-setting activity. The term ''operational ]'' is often used to describe the expected financial performance of an organization for the upcoming year. Capital budgets very often form the backbone of a strategic plan, especially as it increasingly relates to Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
	Theorists frequently make the distinction between strategy and tactics. Strategy involves planning how to get where one wants to go. Tactics can potentially comprise the implementation of such over-arching plans. They deal with specific actions by particular people or by particular groups. Some theorists see it as a mistake to separate strategy and tactics. ] describes strategy formation and implementation (tactics) as an on-going, never-ending, integrated process requiring continuous re-assessment and reformation. He sees strategic planning as both planned and emergent - dynamic and interactive. J. Moncrieff also stresses strategy dynamics - he recognizes strategy as partially deliberate and partially unplanned. The unplanned element comes from two sources:

			===Outcomes===
	# Emergent strategies - resulting from the emergence of opportunities and threats in the environment
			While the planning process produces outputs, ] or execution of the strategic plan produces outcomes. These outcomes will invariably differ from the strategic goals. How close they are to the strategic goals and vision will determine the success or failure of the strategic plan. Unintended outcomes might also be an issue. They need to be attended to and understood for strategy development and execution to be a true learning process.
	# Strategies in action - ''ad hoc'' actions by many people from all parts of an organization

			==Tools and approaches==
	Strategic plans typically look 5 or more years into the future. They differ in this respect from tactical plans (sometimes referred to as functional plans), which look 2 to 4 years into the future; and from operational plans which have an annual scope.
			]]]
			]

			A variety of analytical tools and techniques are used in strategic planning.<ref name="Mintzberg and Quinn 1996"/> These were developed by companies and management consulting firms to help provide a framework for strategic planning. Such tools include:
	Finally, strategic planning is not what you think you want to do but a thing that you have to do.
			* ], which covers the remote external environment elements such as political, economic, social and technological (PESTLE adds legal/regulatory and ecological/environmental);
			* ], which was originally used in the military and recently used by large corporations to analyze future scenarios.
			* ], which addresses industry attractiveness and rivalry through the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers and the threat of substitute products and new market entrants;
			* ], which addresses internal strengths and weaknesses relative to the external opportunities and threats;
			* ], which involves portfolio decisions about which businesses to retain or divest; and
			* ]s and ], which creates a systematic framework for measuring and controlling strategy.
			*], which uses a constructivist evaluation approach to identify the outcomes of objectives, which then supports future strategic planning exercises.
			*], which determines the competitive advantage of a product or a service through evaluating four elements such as value, rarity, imitability and organization.<ref>{{Cite journal \|last1=Ferreira \|first1=João J. M. \|last2=Fernandes \|first2=Cristina I. \|last3=Ferreira \|first3=Fernando A. F. \|date=2022-02-01 \|title=What makes organizations unique? Looking inside the box \|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014829632100744X \|journal=Journal of Business Research \|language=en \|volume=139 \|pages=664–674 \|doi=10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.10.017 \|s2cid=239371863 \|issn=0148-2963\|hdl=10071/30538 \|hdl-access=free }}</ref>

			==Strategic planning vs. financial planning==
	==Situational analysis==
			Simply extending financial statement projections into the future without consideration of the competitive environment is a form of ] or ], not strategic planning. In business, the term "financial plan" is often used to describe the expected financial performance of an organization for future periods. The term "budget" is used for a financial plan for the upcoming year. A "forecast" is typically a combination of actual performance year-to-date plus expected performance for the remainder of the year, so is generally compared against plan or budget and prior performance. The financial plans accompanying a strategic plan may include three–five years of projected performance.

			] developed a ] in the 1970s to describe the sophistication of planning processes, with strategic management ranked the highest. The four stages include:
	When developing Corporate strategies, analysis of the company and environment as it is at the moment and how it will be in the future, is very necessary, this is called the analysis phase of strategic planning. The analysis has to be executed at an internal level as well as an external level to identify all opportunities and threats of the new strategy.
			#Financial planning, which is primarily about annual budgets and a functional focus, with limited regard for the environment;
			#Forecast-based planning, which includes multi-year financial plans and more robust capital allocation across business units;
			#Externally oriented planning, where a thorough situation analysis and competitive assessment is performed;
			#Strategic management, where widespread ] occurs and a well-defined strategic framework is used.
			Categories 3 and 4 are strategic planning, while the first two categories are non-strategic or essentially financial planning. Each stage builds on the previous stages; that is, a stage 4 organization completes activities in all four categories.<ref name="LOS2010">{{cite book
			\| last = Kiechel
			\| first = Walter
			\| author-link = Walter Kiechel
			\| year = 2010
			\| title = The Lords of Strategy \| publisher = Harvard Business Press
			\| isbn = 978-1-59139-782-3\| title-link = The Lords of Strategy
			}}</ref>

			Later McKinsey research undertaken and published in 2006 found that, although many companies had a formal strategic-planning process, the process was not being used for their "most important decisions".<ref>The McKinsey Quarterly, , published in 2006, accessed on 30 October 2024</ref>
	One aspect of internal analysis that has been underestimated in developing corporate strategies is the field of ]. Consultants, when developing corporate strategies, are mostly focused on tangible internal and external factors when analyzing the company and do not really take the cultural, often intangible and invisible, aspects into account.

			For Michael C. Sekora, ] founder in the Reagan White House, during the ] the economically challenged ] was able to keep on western military capabilities by using technology-based planning while the U.S. was slowed by finance-based planning, until the Reagan administration launched the Socrates Project, which should be revived to keep up with ].<ref>{{cite news \|url= http://aviationweek.com/defense/opinion-cold-war-budget-tool-could-save-pentagon \|title= Opinion: The Cold War Budget Tool That Could Save The Pentagon \|date= Feb 2, 2018 \|author= Michael C. Sekora \|work= ]}}</ref>

			==Criticism==

			===Strategic planning vs. strategic thinking===
	===Identifying cultures===
			Strategic planning has been criticized for attempting to systematize ] and strategy formation, which ] argues are inherently creative activities involving synthesis or "connecting the dots" which cannot be systematized. Mintzberg argues that strategic planning can help coordinate planning efforts and measure progress on strategic goals, but that it occurs "around" the strategy formation process rather than within it. It functions remote from the "front lines" or contact with the competitive environment (i.e., in business, facing the customer where the effect of competition is most clearly evident) may not be effective at supporting strategy efforts.<ref name="Mintzberg and Quinn 1996"/>

			===Evidence on strategic planning's impact===
	When creating new corporate strategies, or adjusting existing ones, as said in the introduction, the business consultant most generally starts by analyzing the following aspects of an organization, also see the ] wiki:
			While much criticism surrounds strategic planning, evidence suggests that it does work. In a 2019 meta-analysis including data from almost 9,000 public and private organizations, strategic planning is found to have a positive impact on organizational performance. Strategic planning is particularly potent in enhancing an organization's capacity to achieve its goals (i.e., effectiveness). However, the study argues that just having a plan is not enough. For strategic planning to work, it needs to include some formality (i.e., including an analysis of the internal and external environment and the stipulation of strategies, goals and plans based on these analyses), comprehensiveness (i.e., producing many strategic options before selecting the course to follow) and careful stakeholder management (i.e., thinking carefully about whom to involve during the different steps of the strategic planning process, how, when and why).<ref name="George et al 2019">{{cite journal \|last1=George \|first1=Bert \|last2=Walker \|first2=Richard \|last3=Monster \|first3=Joost \|title=Does Strategic Planning Improve Organizational Performance? A Meta-Analysis \|journal=Public Administration Review \|date=15 October 2019 \|volume=79 \|issue=6 \|pages=810–819 \|doi=10.1111/puar.13104 \|doi-access=free \|hdl=1854/LU-8637323 \|hdl-access=free }}</ref>

			=== Strategic plans as tools to communicate and control ===
	# '''Visionary''' aspects such as goals and objectives.
			] in the article "The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning" (1994),<ref name=":1">{{Cite news \|last=Mintzberg \|first=Henry \|date=1994-01-01 \|title=The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning \|work=Harvard Business Review \|url=https://hbr.org/1994/01/the-fall-and-rise-of-strategic-planning \|access-date=2022-04-10 \|issn=0017-8012}}</ref> argued that the lesson that should be accepted is that managers will never be able to take charge of strategic planning through a formalized process. Therefore, he underscored the role of plans as tools to communicate and control. It ensures that there is coordination wherein everyone in the organization is moving in the same direction. The plans are the prime media communicating the management's strategic intentions, thereby promoting a common direction instead of individual discretion. It is also the tool to secure the support of the organization's external sphere, such as financiers, suppliers or government agencies, who are helping achieve the organization's plans and goals.<ref name=":1" />
	# '''Situational''' aspects such as financial information, company structure and systems and the business which the company is operating in.
	# '''External''' aspects concerning the environment, market findings, competitors and rules and legislations that apply to the region the company is in.
	# '''Technical''' aspects that concern the amount of risk involved in the new strategy, the time span the strategy has to be enrolled in and resources and inputs required.

			== The strategic plan genre of communication ==
	The one aspect that is not often thought of is the cultural aspect of a company. With culture we mean:
			Cornut, et al (2012) <ref name=":0">{{Cite journal \|last1=Cornut \|first1=Francis \|last2=Giroux \|first2=Hélène \|last3=Langley \|first3=Ann \|date=2012 \|title=The strategic plan as a genre \|journal=Discourse & Communication \|volume=6 \|issue=1 \|pages=21–54 \|doi=10.1177/1750481311432521 \|s2cid=144698238 \|issn=1750-4813\|doi-access=free }}</ref> studied the particular features of the strategic plan genre of communication by examining a corpus of strategic plans from public and non-profit organizations. They defined strategic plans as the "key material manifestation" of organizations' strategies and argued that, even though strategic plans are specific to an organization, there is a generic quality that draws on shared institutional understanding on the substance, form and communicative purposes of the strategic plan. Hence, they posit that strategic plan is a genre of organizational communication (Bhatia, 2004; Yates and Orlikowski, 1992 as cited in Cornut et al., 2012).<ref name=":0" /> In this sense, genre is defined as the "conventionalized discursive actions in which participating individuals or institutions have shared perceptions of communicative purposes as well as those of constraints operating their construction, interpretation and conditions of use" (Bhatia, 2004: 87; see also Frow, 2005; Swales, 1990 as cited in Cornut et al., 2012).<ref name=":0" />

			The authors compared the corpus of strategic plans with nine other corpora. This included annual reports from the public sector and nongovernment organizations, research articles, project plans, executive speeches, State of the Union addresses, horoscopes, religious sermons, business magazine articles and annual reports for-profit corporations included in the Standard & Poor's 500 largest companies (S&P 500).
	''“Culture is a series of values, standard interpretations, insights and ways of thinking that is shared by members of an organization and is passed on to new members of this organization. "''(Daft, 2002)

			The authors used textual analysis, including ] and ]. ] was used to identify themes and concepts, such as values and cognition; while ] was used to identify naturally occurring texts and patterns (Biber, et al, 1998 as cited in Cornut et al., 2012).<ref name=":0" />
	This is hardly plausible when thinking of the resistance and problems a group of employees can cause if they oppose to-be-employed or already-employed strategies. The relation between culture and strategy has been described thoroughly by Kono (1994):

			=== Taking a stance ===
	''“The product-market strategy defines the work which employees have to do. If the work requires a high level of competence and new skills, this revitalizes the culture. The strategy also affects the financial performance and the level of salaries and incentives which are available to employees. On the other hand, the effective implementation of new strategies depends on the creativity of the employees and their willingness to change.”''(Kono, 1994)
			The strategic plans showed significantly less self-reference than all other corpora, with the exemption of project plans and S&P 500 annual reports. The results indicated that strategic plans have more moderate verbs of deontic value. This was interpreted as an indication that "commands and commitments are not overtly hedged, but neither are they particularly strong".

			Guidance on the sections of a strategic plan abound but there are few studies about the nature of language used for these documents. Cornut, et al's (2012) <ref name=":0" /> study showed that writers of strategic plans have a shared understanding of what is the appropriate language. Thus, the authors argued, a true strategist is one who is able to instantiate the genre strategic plan through appropriate application of language.<ref name=":0" />
	Kono precisely describes the relation that the company culture and the company strategy have with each other, they are interdependent. So it is key to analyze the company culture as well as possible, to be able to adjust the ‘to be developed’ strategy the best way possible to avoid conflicts and maximize compatibility.

			=== Strategic planning as communicative process ===
	====Perspectives====
			Spee, et. al. (2011)<ref>{{cite journal \|title=Strategic planning as communicative process \|author1=Andreas Paul Spee \|author2=] \|journal=] \|date=2011 \|volume=32 \|issue=9 \|pages=1217–1245\|doi=10.1177/0170840611411387 \|s2cid=145209631 \|url=https://publications.aston.ac.uk/id/eprint/15389/1/Spee_Andreas_P_2009.pdf }}</ref> explored the strategic planning as communicative process based on Ricoeur's concepts of decontextualization and recontextualization, they conceptualize strategic planning activities as being constituted through the iterative and recursive relationship of talk and text, this elaborate the construction of a strategic plan as a communicative process.
			This study looks at the way that texts within the planning process, such as PowerPoint presentations, planning documents and targets that are part of a strategic plan, are constructed in preparation, through a series of communicative interface. Throughout the process, strategy documents were essential in detaining the developing strategy as they were constantly revised up until an ultimate plan was accepted.

			The book edited by Mandeville-Gamble (2015) sees the roles of managers as important in terms of communicating the strategic vision of the organization.<ref>{{Cite journal \|last=Lutz \|first=James \|date=2016-09-08 \|title=Practical strategies for academic library managers: Leading with vision through all levels \|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07317131.2016.1203671 \|journal=Technical Services Quarterly \|volume=33 \|issue=4 \|pages=474–475 \|doi=10.1080/07317131.2016.1203671 \|s2cid=64391685 \|issn=0731-7131}}</ref> Many of the authors in the book by Mandeville-Gamble agree that a strategic plan is merely an unrealized vision unless it is widely shared and sparks the willingness to change within individuals in the organization. Similarly, Goodman in 2017<ref>{{Citation \|last=Goodman \|first=Michael B. \|title=Communicating Strategic Change \|date=2017-06-27 \|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315749068-4 \|work=Social Media and Crisis Communication \|pages=41–56 \|publisher=Routledge \|doi=10.4324/9781315749068-4 \|isbn=978-1-315-74906-8 \|access-date=2022-04-10}}</ref> emphasized that the advent of the internet and social media has become one of the most important vehicle to which corporate strategic plan can be distributed to an organizations internal and external stakeholders. This distribution of knowledge allows for staff of organization to access and share the institutional thinking this able to reformulate it in their own words.
	To analyze the culture of a company, one has to use some kind of perspective to look at the artifacts (visible or not) that are active within the company and describe its culture. Basically two important schools with their perspectives can be distinguished:

			===Strategic planning through control mechanisms===
	* Ethnographical versus clinical analysis
			{{Unreferenced section\|date=June 2023}}
	* Functionalistic versus Interpretionistic analysis
			Strategic planning through control mechanisms (mostly by the way of a communication program) is set in the hopes of coming to desired outcomes that reflect company or organizational goals. As further supplement to this idea, controls can also be realized in both measurable and intangible controls, specifically output controls, behavioural controls, and clan controls. By way of simple definition, output controls work toward to tangible and quantifiable results; behavioural controls are geared toward behaviours of people in an organization; and clan controls are dependent and are executed while keeping in mind norms, traditions, and organizational culture. All these three are implemented in order to keep systems and strategies running and focused toward desired results (n.d.).

			===Strategic planning, learning organizations, and communication===
	The different perspective will be discuss=====Ethnographical versus Clinical approach=====

			Strategic planning is both the impetus for and result of critical thinking, optimization, and motivation for the growth and development of organizations. The core disciplines, which are inherent in ], personal and organizational mastery, mental models, building a shared vision, and team learning. In a time of machine learning and data analytics, these core disciplines remain to be relevant in so far as having human resource and human interest become the driving force behind organizations.
	This approach towards analyzing corporate cultures has been developed by ] (1985) and makes the distinction between the following two ways of looking at artifacts within a company:

			Moreover, it cannot be denied that communication plays a role in the realization of learning organizations and strategic planning. In a study by Barker and Camarata (1998),<ref name="Barker 443–467">{{Cite journal \|last1=Barker \|first1=R. T. \|last2=Camarata \|first2=M. R. \|date=1998-10-01 \|title=The Role of Communication in Creating and Maintaining a Learning Organization: Preconditions, Indicators, and Disciplines \|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002194369803500402 \|journal=Journal of Business Communication \|language=en \|volume=35 \|issue=4 \|pages=443–467 \|doi=10.1177/002194369803500402 \|s2cid=144340049 \|issn=0021-9436}}</ref> the authors noted that there are theories that could explain the invaluable role of communication, and these are from Rational Choice Theory to Social Exchange Theory where costs, rewards, and outcomes are valued in maintaining communication and thus relationships to serve the ends of an organization and its members. Thus, while many organizations and companies try their best to become learning organizations and exercise strategic planning, without communication, relationships fail and the core disciplines are never truly met (Barker & Camarata, 1998).<ref name="Barker 443–467"/>
	* '''Ethnographical''' – Focused on concrete data to understand the culture, which is mostly used for scientific research. Researchers who use this ethnographical way of analysis start with some predefined assumptions and try to find proof for these assumptions when investigating the organization (Harris, 2002)

	* '''Clinical''' – Focused on cultural processes that are active within the organization and how these processes can be adjusted or modified to achieve a certain goal. Hereby looking at indicators such as artifacts, values and assumptions.

	=====Functionalistic versus Interpretionistic approach=====

	* The '''functionalistic''' approach towards analyzing culture is concerned with merely the same aspects as the clinical approach and is aimed at analyzing current cultural signals that can possibly be extracted to be used in other organizations (Harris, 2002)

	* The '''interpretionistic''' approach is more interested in the processes that form the coherence between employees in the same company. The interpretionistic approach thus is more aimed at communicational processes between employees in contrary to the more ‘describing’ way of the functionalistic approach.

	====Artifacts====

	As described in the previous section, in both perspectives towards analyzing corporate cultures ] take a prominent place. These approaches are the clinical and functionalistic approaches. When looking at artifacts within an organization we can distinguish the following two main categories.

	=====Visible artifacts=====
	Visible artifacts include the following and can be experienced and analysed fairly easy because of the extrovert character they have. Visible artifacts include:

	* Rituals and ceremonies
	* Organization Stories
	* Symbols
	* Business Language
	*:The business language of a company is the use of language employees speak, common used words and textual expressions that characterize the companies culture.

	=====Invisible artifacts=====
	Next to visible artifacts, a company's culture also thrives on processes and events that are not that easily seen by outside consultants or even in-house employees. These include:

	* Value (personal and cultural)
	* Assumptions
	* Perspectives
	* Attitudes
	* Feelings

	When looking at these invisible artifacts, one can state that these are of great value when creating a new corporate strategy, the attitudes and feelings that employees have towards for example radical changes can make or break your corporate strategy. The company's strategy also depends on the external / internal focus and needs from the environment of the company.

	====Culture types====
	When setting the external versus internal strategic focus against the environmental needs (flexibility versus stability) The following figure emerges:
	to be very externally oriented when it comes to the strategic focus. Companies that hold this culture are flexible and able to respond to outside needs and changes fast and adequately. Employees are stimulated to be innovative. Examples of these companies today are mainly in the services-sector such as online marketplaces like eBay or online communities such as Hyves in the Netherlands.
	* Mission Culture
	*:The mission culture is externally oriented like the adjustment based entrepreneurial culture, but is not subject to quick environmental and external changes. Companies that have the mission culture are focused on reaching targets that have been set earlier in order to be competitive. A company such as Iriver (Korea), which is a company that produces mp3 players, is a good example. Iriver is very externally focused, and copies existing mp3 player models like the Apple iPod, but is also very focused on internal targets to guarantee low prices.
	* Clan Culture
	*:The clan culture is focused at flexibility when it comes to external needs, but this is reached through excellence of the employees, which makes the strategic focus internally focused. Examples of companies who fit the clan culture are Baan and IBM who are mainly considering the wellbeing of their employees as top priority and have the intention not to fire a single employee from the company perspective.
	* Bureaucratic Culture
	*:The bureaucratic culture is internally focused and operates in a market that is not demanding high flexibility. Examples are some government institutions or insurance companies.

	When a company's culture is analyzed, by using one of the perspectives used before, artifacts will make clear in what part of the quadrant (or very possibly also a combination of more than one) a company is in according to their culture. This information can be valuable to adjust the corporate strategy too but it can also be valuable to identify the current culture and change it according to for example changing needs from the external environment. This topic will be elaborated in the next section.

	===Changing cultures and strategy===

	When a corporate strategy is developed, or an existing strategy is altered, the previous sections prove that the culture aspect of an organization is important because it can oppose new strategies when culture and strategy do not fit together.

	'''''So what if the culture does not fit the strategy that is being developed?'''''

	When a culture does not match the strategy that is going to be deployed (which for some reason cannot be altered to the culture because of a changing external environment for example), some tactics to change this culture are available.

	====Approaches====

	# The All-Out attack (Kono, 1994)
	#:The all out approach of implementing a new culture consists of removing all the cultural and strategic plans that are active at the moment and turn it all around. This is mainly done when a big conglomerate acquires another company and wants to enroll their own culture and strategic goals.
	# The inside venture approach (Kono, 1994 & Zahra, 1991)
	#:This tactic is based on the power of internal rewards and innovation. A company encourages employees to be innovative and come up with new ideas, and reward their employees with their own project team when the idea is feasible enough. This leads to a better external focus (employees are more focused on customer needs) and results in a company that is very flexible to the environmental needs.
	# Strategic alliance or Alliances
	#:Include efforts such as joint ventures with other companies.
	# Organizational and Personnel management approach
	#:When changing a corporate culture, expanding of the organizational (which formulates and regulates the strategies) and personnel departments is advisory.

	====Resistance====

	When situations change, especially not for the better, people generally resist this. When changing a culture, resistance will most probably also occur, resistance which most of the time is the result of the organizational climate, the shared meaning of employees about the way things go around in the company. Afterall, humans are creatures of habit and generally resist organisational change.

	The existence of subcultures can also be a great cause of resistance and opposition against new plans. Subcultures, as the name says, are cultures with other assumptions and beliefs when compared to the general companywide culture. Subcultures can be horizontal (within the same hierarchical layer) or vertical (from manager to work floor employees) which in general can even cause more problems when changes are at hand.

	So how to make sure that resistance is as low as possible? There are some measurements that can be taken, which will be discussed in the next section. (syed)

	====Measurements====

	* A status ladder system (Kono, 1994)
	*:A skill based method of paying your employees, derived from Japan, which pays employees according to the knowledge and capabilities they have instead of the jobs they perform.
	* Salary Reduction
	* Job Transfers
	* Early retirements
	* Less recruiting

	These measurements are mainly meant to keep employees at the company, even though the new corporate strategy will change things inside the company.

	==The External Environment==

	The element of the environment that has the most immediate impact, and one which dominated management activities in the 1980s and 1990s - competitive strategy. Following the widely accepted frameworks developed by Michael Porter, this initially concentrates on the competitive features of different industry types, and in particular the entry barriers to them. The main part, however, revolves around
	competitive responses and strategies, especially between leaders and followers.

	However, Pfeffer and Salancik made the following comment:

	"The key to organizational survival is the ability to acquire and maintain resources. This problem would be simplified if organizations were in complete control of all the components necessary for their operation. However, no organization is completely self-contained. Organizations are embedded in an environment composed of other organizations. They depend on those organizations for the many resources they themselves require. Organizations are linked to environments by federations, associations, customer-supplier relationships, competitive relationships and a socio-legal apparatus defining and controlling the nature and limits of those relationships."

	Most organizations, however, seem (at least formally) to ignore this dimension of their business. If they are well managed, they devote immense efforts to optimizing the internal factors which are within their control; but they barely notice what is happening outside, and make little attempt to formally manage that side of their activities, except for some marketing responses. A major element of that outside environment is made up from the factors which are now grouped under the global heading of `marketing'. Beyond this, however, there is a whole range of social and political factors which may have even greater impact. Not least is the impact of government regulation, which may make or break whole sectors of industry.

	===Theoretical Frameworks===

	As is frequently the case in marketing, a number of alternative frameworks for studying the wider environment are offered, the most conventional of which describes it in terms of an ` - onion - ':

	This is a useful approach, since it distinguishes between three different degrees of interaction:

	*Organization (or internal environment) - . This includes those activities, contained totally - within - the organization itself, which make up the daily life of most organizations.

	*Marketing environment - . This is the area of the external environment which has the most immediate impact on organizations, and is generally recognized by them (and is the subject of much of this book).

	*External environment - . This is often not recognized as a force impinging on organizations; and yet, as we have seen, it may well contain the - major - factors which determine the performance of that organization.

	These external factors are most often grouped as the - STEP - factors (Social, Technological, Economic and Political). They can have dramatic effects on organizations. The (political) results of legislation, for example, determine the boundaries of the actions of most organizations, and yet they are often `taken as read', and are a relatively unnoticed element of organizational performance.

	===Sociocultural===

	Cultural traditions are not easily overturned, but over the years they can change quite significantly - without the organizations involved noticing. From the 1970s to the Millennium, for example, the role of woman in society - and, in particular, woman's role at work - changed dramatically; and this was of considerable significance to those supplying services to women. No longer could they assume that the average woman was the stereotypical housewife. The women's magazine industry, as one example, was changed out of all recognition.

	Over the past two decades there have been major changes in a number of areas of the overall sociocultural environment. The `Information Revolution' in particular had a measurable impact on the patterns of employment; with economists pointing to a degree of `structural unemployment' caused by its progress. It is arguable, indeed, that the social effects of this particular `revolution' will dominate many of the changes in society over the coming two decades.

	Related to this particular `technological' driver, there have been a number of predictions made about how society will change. One of the earlier ones, and also one of the most influential, was that by Daniel Bell, concerning the development of the - post-industrial society - :

	As early as the 1970s he specified five dimensions, or components, of this:

	#Economic sector: the change from a goods-producing to a service economy
	#Occupational distribution: the pre-eminence of the professional and technical class
	#Axial principle: the centrality of theoretical knowledge as the source of innovation and of policy formulation for the society
	#Future orientation: the control of technology and technological assessment
	#Decision making: the creation of a new `intellectual technology'.

	As with many such `forecasts', the pace of change has been slower than Daniel Bell expected. However, Bell recognized that his `forecast' was based as much on hope and desire as on rational projection. In the context of his fifth element, for instance, he added:

	"The goal of the new intellectual technology is neither more or less to realize a social alchemist's dream, the dream of `ordering' the mass of society... That this dream - as utopian, in its way, as the dreams of a perfect `commonwealth' - has faltered is laid, on the part of its believers, to the known human resistance

	===Post-materialism===

	From the point of view of the marketer, perhaps the most important predicted change is that from a materialist society to a post-materialist one. It is only fair to report that `post-materialism' is taking longer to arrive than its most ardent supporters would wish.

	===Demography===

	Some changes are, however, totally predictable. The most obvious, and possibly the most important, are those resulting from demography. The `baby boom' of the 1960s, and the subsequent dramatic decline in birth rates, have produced very different cohorts of population; with accompanying (totally predictable) changes in earnings and consumption.

	===Technology===

	The impact of changing technology is also a major factor in the development of the external environment. The `Information Revolution' already mentioned is just one example of changes
	driven by technology.

	The direct impact of new technology on organizations may be obvious. Even then, `marketing myopia' -where they are so involved in short-term problems that they cannot see wider perspectives which will determine the future - may blind them to the obvious. Less apparent, though, are the social or
	`structural' changes generated by such new technology. The `Information Revolution' is having its wider impact, for one example, by allowing much smaller organizations to achieve `economies of scale'. In the larger organizations it is having a different effect by encouraging horizontal communications (via
	electronic mail) to take over from the traditional vertical (hierarchical) organization; and in the process is creating new structures which are close to those of Japanese companies.

	Peter Senker identified four main `drivers' in the field of technology:

	#information technology
	#new materials
	#environmental issues
	#biotechnology

	===Economic===

	Some of the 'theory' of marketing is also shared with other academic disciplines - or at least appears to be! Thus, although the `market' is clearly at the heart of marketing, it has also become central to economic theory; and, indeed, to the basic philosophies of `capitalism'. The way in which each of these two disciplines approaches the concept of the market could not, however, be more different.

	The population in general, and the business community in particular, have uncritically accepted the basic tentets of economics as the given fundamentals of business life. Put simply, it is widely believed that economic theory accurately describes what happens in the wider business world. The
	reality (at least as described by marketing theory - and, even more clearly, by marketing practice) is often very different.

	In the earliest days there was very little practical difference between economics and any theory of business management; or of `marketing' as then practised, in a society which had few surpluses to exchange. Adam Smith wrote his justifiably renowned - Wealth of Nations - as a treatise to be studied as much by businessmen as by government.

	Even in the Victorian period, `neoclassical' economics, as developed by Alfred Marshall for example, was still spending much of its time trying to describe practical business processes, albeit in more scientific terms. The `laws of supply and demand', which now lie at the heart of modern micro-economics, represented a practical attempt to describe how prices were set at a time when almost all major markets were commodity markets, and the one variable which the seller could control was price.

	At that time the political debate, led by Karl Marx, revolved around the ownership of the capital involved (and hence, most importantly, ownership of the profit), together with the associated division of wealth and income. `Capitalism' was about just that - about who owned the capital. It too, in its own perverse way, was firmly based on conventional economic theory. Even so, business economics, or the related `micro-economics', remained closely linked to actual business activities through the first half of the twentieth century.

	Economists, however, increasingly focused on the need to create a body of theory which would justify their claim that economics was a legitimate academic discipline. At this time `macro-economics',
	that element which described the factors pertaining to the economy as a whole (and was clearly the responsibility of government rather than business), was split off as a separate subject - particularly after the pioneering work of Lord Keynes became generally accepted - to become the part of economics which received the most publicity.

	The debate about whether the government should control demand or supply was won, in the 1970s, by the latter view (now espoused by many governments).

	Over the same period, the political basis of capitalism has also shifted. As described above, the key factor had been seen to be the ownership of capital; the prime need was for `profit' to stimulate the `entrepreneur' to innovate, and improve business efficiency. Indeed, it had previously been widely believed that the strength of the capitalist West derived from that profit motive, which by itself led to enterprises almost automatically being better managed; for the good of all involved.

	Unfortunately, by the 1970s, after the development of the global money markets, and after Kenneth Galbraith's very influential teachings, it had become clear that, at least in terms of routine operations, ownership of capital had largely become divorced from the management of most large organizations.

	The political theme then became that of the `market'. The great benefit of `capitalism', it thus emerged, was that the `market' was the best (and only `natural') mechanism for allocating resources; for deciding how demand could be met. `The discipline of the market' or the `virtue of market-led economies', then became the central theme of `capitalist' governments; and is now espoused almost as enthusiastically by the governments of the former communist bloc.

	===Micro-economics and marketing===

	Modern micro-economics experiences no theoretical problem in describing the activities of the ` - perfect firm - '. This `ideal' organization is involved in perfect competition, where price is the one dominant factor (and this, above all, is the element manipulated in the many economic equations which are used to describe that firm). All decisions are taken rationally, based upon maximization of monetary outcomes (profit), where all the relationships are exactly known; and can be plotted upon
	definitive graphs.

	In the 1990s the 'transaction cost' approach explored the relationships between economic theory and business management, by looking at the difference in `transaction costs' between the alternatives
	considered, as the reason for the logical choice made. This field of theory has, in particular, concentrated upon business structure - including the `make' or `buy in' decision. Here it argued, with some success, that the firm's decision as to whether to `make' a component itself or buy it from a supplier is (or at least should be) taken on `cost' grounds (though the definition of `cost' was complex than normal). Transaction costs however further got complicated and therefore a number of ERP solutions cropped up to reslove them to a great extent.

	Whatever the approach, micro-economics finds considerable difficulty in dealing with ` - imperfect competition - ', since no generally agreed model for representing this state of affairs has yet emerged. Worst of all, particularly in the current climate of uncertainty, it cannot easily handle the `fuzzy' relationships which do not fit neatly into the exact equations. Finally, as Kenneth Galbraith and others so succinctly observed, management decision-making is often anything but rational; and is frequently not designed to achieve the simple monetary outcomes which are the staple diet of economics
	- and instead reflect rather more complex motivations.

	Marketing, which has grown as a business function over this period (while economics has waned, in terms of its comparable use as a business management tool), thrives on precisely these elements, which are the stuff of real business life. Thus, the aim of every brand manager is to make competition ever - more - imperfect (aiming for the `ideal' brand which holds a monopoly over its customers, who will stridently demand Carlsberg beer and reject any alternatives). In this environment the `intangible' (and often seemingly irrational) needs and wants of the customer predominate. The tools of marketing are frequently the `creative' tools which address the `fuzzy' areas; of formulating the most attractive product or service, and of developing the most effective promotions. Having to compete on price, as the micro-economists would ideally wish for, is usually seen as defeat by such marketers.

	Thus, there are many disadvantages to adopting the pure economic view-point. On the other hand, there still remain some clear advantages to investigating such an economic perspective. In particular,
	economics has benefited from almost a century of concentrated academic activity; developing a rigorous, logical, framework. It is the rigidity of thinking imposed by this framework which has often now detached it from real life. But the very strength of this body of academic theory means that economics can offer a useful reference framework with which to compare many marketing decisions.

	===Political===

	The boundaries within which organizations can operate are frequently set by legislation; from the ingredients they can legally put into their products to the buildings that their employees are allowed to work in. Pressure groups campaign directly to change legislation, but also work indirectly to change the public's buying habits.

	Organizations themselves may well join pressure groups, to force government to protect their entrenched positions, and are often very successful.

	It might be thought that only the larger organizations are the direct targets of pressure groups or have the resources to be involved in pressure groups themselves; but it is just as important that the smaller organizations understand the political machinations which are taking place around them, and
	which have a major, albeit relatively unseen, impact.

	===Law===

	Most aspects of marketing transactions will be covered by one or other form of legislation; not least that of contract law. The marketing manager or sales manager, then, must be well aware of those aspects that most directly affect them; and this will vary from industry to industry, and from country to country. The chemicals industry, for instance, is driven by legislation on safety, whereas financial services providers in the UK look to the Financial Services Act. Most managers, however, should at
	least understand exactly what their own contract means; and, even more importantly, what the implications are when others insist that their own contractual terms are followed instead.

	The laws which affect your business need to be handled expertly, by specialists, for two main reasons:

	*specificity - there is a vast array of laws, only some of which affect individual industries or organizations in specific countries

	*currency - more importantly, laws change, often quite rapidly

	===Consumerism===

	The pressure group which has had the most direct impact on organizations in recent years has been that of the consumer movement; to which has now been added the environmental lobby and the green movement. The motivation of these movements has been sincere, no matter how annoying they may have been to the
	producers that they have targeted. They have aimed to benefit the consumer - high ideals, which are in stark contrast with those of some of the rather more self-interested industrial pressure groups.

	These movements are often closer to the average consumer than the supplier. What they urge often makes very good marketing sense; and their views are often a sound guide to what future
	legislation may bring.

	===Multiple Publics===

	A concept which has recently emerged is that there are a number of different groups which can claim an interest or `stake' (Gareth Morgan actually referred to them as `multiple stakeholders') in the organization. Using a now more usual terminology, Lusch and Lusch define the `public' of an organization as `any group which has an actual or potential interest or impact on an organization's ability to achieve its objectives'.

	Traditionally, especially in the view of economists, only the owners (the `stockholders') have been
	legitimately entitled to an interest in what the organization does. More recently it has been recognized that employees' interests should also be taken into account.

	===Mergers and Acquisitions===

	The power of the financial stakeholders should not, however, be under-estimated. It is often seen in its most active form (at least by the defenders) when acquisitions or mergers take place (not infrequently on an `unfriendly' basis). The rationale for mergers and acquisitions is not always financial. It is, indeed, often for reasons related to marketing; in the diplomatic terms which accompany such manoeuvres, `to obtain some synergy from complementary marketing assets', or in more forthright terms, `to try and increase monopolistic control over customers'.

	== Goals, objectives and targets ==

	Strategic planning is a very important business activity. It is practiced widely. In spite of that, it is not done well. All strategic planning and decision processes must start with agreed upon objectives (desired end states). In practice and in the literature, this is a murky area.

	The following terms have been used in Strategic Planning: desired end states, plans, policies, goals, objectives, strategies, tactics and actions. Definitions vary, overlap and fail to achieve clarity.

	The following concept has been found useful. The items listed above may be organized in a hierarchy of means and ends and '''numbered''' as follows: Top Rank Objective (TRO), Second Rank Objective, Third Rank Objective, etc.

	From any rank, the objective in a lower rank answers to the question "How?" and the objective in a higher rank answers to the question "Why?"

	The exception is the Top Rank Objective (TRO): there is no answer to the "Why?" question. That is how the TRO is defined.

	An may help to clarify the concept presented above.

	Differences between a current situation and a future aspirational state can appear as a deficiency or as a gap. Objectives and goal management serve to eliminate this gap. Some writers distinguish between goals (inexactly formulated aims that lack specificity) and objectives (aims formulated exactly and quantitatively as to time-frames and magnitude of effect). For example, a gambler might have the ambiguous goal: "I want to get lucky tonight". Converting this into an objective, it might become: "I want to make $100 at the blackjack table by 8 o'clock tonight." Not all authors make this distinction, preferring to use the two terms interchangeably.

	In the financial arena, or when talking statistically, one often refers to goals as "targets".

	People typically have several goals at the same time. "Goal congruency" refers to how well the goals combine with each other. Does goal A appear compatible with goal B? Do they fit together to form a unified strategy? "Goal hierarchy" consists of the nesting of one or more goals within other goal(s).

	One approach recommends having short-term goals, medium-term goals, and long-term goals. In this model, one can expect to attain short-term goals fairly easily: they stand just slightly above one's reach. At the other extreme, long-term goals appear very difficult, almost impossible to attain. Strategic management jargon sometimes refers to "Big Hairy Audacious Goals" (BHAGs) in this context.) Using one goal as a stepping-stone to the next involves '''goal sequencing'''. A person or group starts by attaining the easy short-term goals, then steps up to the medium-term, then to the long-term goals. Goal sequencing can create a "goal stairway".In an ]al setting, the organization may co-ordinate goals so that they do not conflict with each other. The goals of one part of the organization should mesh compatibly with those of other parts of the organization.

	Individuals within organizations will typically have personal goals. Although individuals often have goals that oppose organizational goals (such as having as high a salary as possible), if personal goals diverge too incompatibly from organizational goals they may result in limited progress towards the mere organizational goals.

	== Mission statements and vision statements ==

	Organizations sometimes summarize goals and objectives into a '''mission statement''' and / or a '''vision statement''':

	* A Definition of Vision in a dictionary: 'An Image of the future we seek to create'.
	*: A ''vision statement'' describes in graphic terms where the goal-setters want to see themselves in the future. It may describe how they see events unfolding over 10 or 20 years if everything goes exactly as hoped.
	* A definition of Mission in a dictionary: purpose, reason for being; also, an inner calling to pursue an activity or perform a service.

	Many people mistake vision statement for mission statement. The Vision describes a future identity and the Mission describes how it will be achieved. A Mission statement may define the purpose or broader goal for being in existence or in the business. It serves as an ongoing guide without time frame. The mission can remain the same for decades if crafted well. Vision is more specific in terms of objective and future state. Vision is related to some form of achievement if successful.

	For example, "We help transport goods and people efficiently and cost effectively without damaging environment" is a mission statement. Ford's brief but powerful slogan "Quality is Job 1" could count as a mission statement. "We will be one amongst the top three transporters of goods and people in North America by 2010" is a vision statement. It is very concrete and unambiguous goal.

	Mission and Values go hand in hand. To make the mission statement effective, it needs to be aligned with the prevailing culture of its stakeholders, organization, market and political sphere. A lofty mission statement means nothing if it is not in congruence with the values practiced by the organization. A statement of values provides guiding principles when ethical issues related to realizing the Vision, and undertaking the Mission, arise.

	A ''mission statement'' can resemble a vision statement in a few companies, but that can be a grave mistake. It can confuse people. The vision statement can galvanize the people to achieve defined objectives, even if they are stretch objectives, provided the vision is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound). A mission statement provides a path to realize the vision in line with its values. These statements have a direct bearing on the bottomline and success of the organization.

	Features of an effective vision statement may include:

	* Clarity and lack of ambiguity
	* Paint a vivid and clear picture, not ambiguous
	* Describing a bright future (hope)
	* Memorable and engaging expression
	* Realistic aspirations, achievable
	* Alignment with organizational values and culture, Rational
	* Time bound if it talks of achieving any goal or objective

	In order to become really effective, an organizational vision statement must (the theory states) become assimilated into the organization's ]. ]s have the responsibility of communicating the vision regularly, creating narratives that illustrate the vision, acting as role-models by embodying the vision, creating short-term objectives compatible with the vision, and encouraging others to craft their own personal vision compatible with the organization's overall vision.


	== Why strategic plans fail ==

	In general, strategic plans can fail for two types of reasons: inappropriate strategy and poor implementation.

	Inappropriate strategies may arise due to:

	* Failure to define end states (objectives) correctly
	* Incomplete SWOT analysis with respect to the desired end state(s)
	* Lack of creativity in identifying possible strategies
	* Strategies incapable of obtaining the desired objective
	* Poor fit between the external environment and organizational resources - infeasibility

	Poor implementation of a strategy may happen due to:

	* Over-estimation of resources and abilities
	* Under-estimation of time, personnel, or financial requirements
	* Failure to coordinate
	* Ineffective attempts to gain the support of others or resistance
	* Failure to follow the plan
	* Loss of senior management focus and continued sponsorship

	==Where to Learn More, Where to Find Strategic Planners==
	'''Associations, Professional Societies'''

	* is a non-profit 501(c)(6) professional organization whose mission is to enable people and organizations to succeed through improved strategic thinking, planning, and action.

	'''Resources, Tools and Article Libraries'''
	* has an extensive library of articles and tools for strategic planning.

	* are provided by Carter McNamara. Articles cover planning topcis for nonprofit and for-profit organizations.

	* is a resource that provides an article for public-sector planning by the National Endowment for the Arts.


	* is a knowledgebase of often asked questions (and answers) about the strategic planning process arranged in bit-sized pieces to help avoid information overload.

	==See also==		==See also==
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			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			** '']''{{snd}}ancient book on military strategy
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ] (StratML)
			* ]
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	==References==		==References==
			{{Reflist\|30em}}
	* Bradford and Duncan, 'Simplified Strategic Planning' (Chandler House, 2000)
	* Daft, R.L. (2002) ''Organizational Theory and Design.'' Schoonhoven: Academic Service
	* Kono, T. (1994) ''Changing a company's strategy and culture.'' Long range planning, Volume: 27, Issue: 5 (October 1994), pp: 85-97
	* Harris, T.E. (2002) ''Applied Organizational Communication: Principles and Pragmatics for Future Practice.'' Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey.
	* Zahra, S.A. (1991) ''Predictors and financial outcomes of corporate entrepreneurship: An exploratory study.'' Journal of business venturing, Volume: 6, Issue: 4 (July 1991), pp: 259-285
	* J. Pfeffer and G. R. Salancik, 'The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective' (Harper & Row, 1978).
	* P. Kotler, Megamarketing, Harvard Business Review (March--April 1986)
	* D. Bell, 'The Coming of Post Industrial Society: a Venture in Social Forecasting' (Heinemann, 1974).
	* J. Naisbitt, 'Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming our Lives' (Macdonald, 1982)
	* T. Levitt, Marketing myopia, 'Harvard Business Review' (July--August 1960)
	* J. M. Keynes, 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money' (1936)
	* R. H. Coase, 'The Firm the Market and the Law' (University of Chicago Press, 1988)
	* J. K. Galbraith, 'The New Industrial State' (1967)
	* L. Fahey and V. K. Narayman, 'Macroenvironmental Analysis for Strategic Management'(West Publishing, 1986)
	* R. F. Lusch and V. N. Lusch, 'Principles of Marketing' (Kent Publishing, 1987)

			==Further reading==
			{{Commons category}}
			* Michael Allison and Jude Kaye (2005). ''Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations''. Second Edition. ].
			* John Argenti (1968). ''Corporate Planning – A Practical Guide''. Allen & Unwin.
			* John Argenti (1974). ''Systematic Corporate Planning''. Wiley.
			* Bradford and Duncan (2000). ''Simplified Strategic Planning''. Chandler House.
			* Patrick J. Burkhart and Suzanne Reuss (1993). ''Successful Strategic Planning: A Guide for Nonprofit Agencies and Organizations''. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.
			* L. Fahey and V. K. Narayman (1986). ''Macroenvironmental Analysis for Strategic Management''. West Publishing.
			* ] (2004). ''ABCs of strategic management: an executive briefing and plan-to-plan day on strategic management in the 21st century''.
			* T. Kono (1994) "Changing a Company's Strategy and Culture", Long Range Planning, 27, 5 (October 1994), pp. 85–97
			* ] (1986), "Megamarketing" In: ''Harvard Business Review''. (March–April 1986)
			* ] (1960) "Marketing myopia", In: ''Harvard Business Review'', (July–August 1960)
			* M. Lorenzen (2006). "Strategic Planning for Academic Library Instructional Programming." In: ''Illinois Libraries'' 86, no. 2 (Summer 2006): 22–29.
			* R. F. Lusch and V. N. Lusch (1987). ''Principles of Marketing''. Kent Publishing,
			* ] (2012), ''The Strategy Book'', FT Prentice Hall.
			* ] (1982). ''Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming our Lives''. Macdonald.
			* Erica Olsen (2012). ''Strategic Planning Kit for Dummies, 2nd Edition''. ], Inc.
			* Brian Tracy (2000). ''The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success''. Berrett, Koehler Publishers.

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Latest revision as of 22:31, 30 December 2024

Organizational decision making process Not to be confused with Strategic thinking.

Strategy
Part of a series on

Analysis methods Strategy • Strategic management Military strategy • Strategic studies Strategic planning • Strategic thinking Decision theory • Game theory
Major thinkers Michael Porter • Rita Gunther McGrath Bruce Henderson • Gary Hamel Candace A. Yano • C. K. Prahalad Jim Collins • Liddell Hart Carl von Clausewitz • Sun Tzu Julian Corbett • Alfred Thayer Mahan J.C. Wylie • Adrian Slywotzky Sharon Oster • Chris Zook Henry Mintzberg
Concepts Business model • Competitive advantage Value chain • Performance effects Core competency • Generic strategies Mission statement
Frameworks and tools SWOT • Five forces Balanced scorecard • Ansoff matrix OGSM • Managerial grid model PEST analysis • Growth–share matrix STP • MECE principle Business Model Canvas • Kraljic matrix Strategic Grid Model • Strategy map • VRIO
v t e

Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to attain strategic goals.

Furthermore, it may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the strategy. Strategic planning became prominent in corporations during the 1960s and remains an important aspect of strategic management. It is executed by strategic planners or strategists, who involve many parties and research sources in their analysis of the organization and its relationship to the environment in which it competes.

Strategy has many definitions, but it generally involves setting strategic goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, setting a timeline, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources) in a given span of time. Often, Strategic planning is long term and organizational action steps are established from two to five years in the future. The senior leadership of an organization is generally tasked with determining strategy. Strategy can be planned (intended) or can be observed as a pattern of activity (emergent) as the organization adapts to its environment or competes in the market.

Strategy includes processes of formulation and implementation; strategic planning helps coordinate both. However, strategic planning is analytical in nature (i.e., it involves "finding the dots"); strategy formation itself involves synthesis (i.e., "connecting the dots") via strategic thinking. As such, strategic planning occurs around the strategy formation activity.

Strategic planning can be used in Project Management that focuses on the development of standard methodology that is repeatable and will result to high chances of achieving project objectives. This requires a lot of thinking process and interaction among stakeholders. Strategic planning in Project Management provides an organization the framework and consistency of action. In addition, it ensures communication of overall goals and understanding roles of teams or individual to achieve them. The commitment of top management must be evident throughout the process to reduce resistance to change, ensure acceptance, and avoid common pitfalls. Strategic Planning does not guarantee success but will help improve likelihood of success of an organization.

In educational institutions, strategic planning is also a need. We are already in a transitional period in which old practices are no longer permanent but require revision to meet the needs of academia, which is frustrating in the educational sector. To meet the changing needs of this new society, educational institutions must reorganize. Finding ways to maintain achievements while improving effectiveness can be difficult for educational institutions. Keeping up with society's rapid changes. Some strategic planners are hesitant to address societal outcomes, so they often ignore them and assume they will happen on their own. Instead of defining the vision for how we want our children to live, they direct their attention to courses, content, and resources with the mistaken belief that societally useful outcomes will follow. When this occurs, the true strategic plan is never developed or implemented.

Process

Overview

Strategic planning is a process and thus has inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes. This process, like all processes, has constraints. It may be formal or informal and is typically iterative, with feedback loops throughout the process. Some elements of the process may be continuous and others may be executed as discrete projects with a definitive start and end during a period. Strategic planning provides inputs for strategic thinking, which guides the actual strategy formation. Typical strategic planning efforts include the evaluation of the organization's mission and strategic issues to strengthen current practices and determine the need for new programming. The end result is the organization's strategy, including a diagnosis of the environment and competitive situation, a guiding policy on what the organization intends to accomplish, and key initiatives or action plans for achieving the guiding policy.

Michael Porter wrote in 1980 that formulation of competitive strategy includes consideration of four key elements:

Company strengths and weaknesses;
Personal values of the key implementers (i.e., management and the board);
Industry opportunities and threats;
Broader societal expectations.

The first two elements relate to factors internal to the company (i.e., the internal environment), while the latter two relate to factors external to the company (i.e., the external environment). These elements are considered throughout the strategic planning process.

Inputs

Data is gathered from various sources, such as interviews with key executives, review of publicly available documents on the competition or market, primary research (e.g., visiting or observing competitor places of business or comparing prices), industry studies, reports of the organization's performance, etc. This may be part of a competitive intelligence program. Inputs are gathered to help establish a baseline, support an understanding of the competitive environment and its opportunities and risks. Other inputs include an understanding of the values of key stakeholders, such as the board, shareholders, and senior management. These values may be captured in an organization's vision and mission statements.

Activities

The essence of formulating competitive strategy is relating a company to its environment.

Michael Porter

Strategic planning activities include meetings and other communication among the organization's leaders and personnel to develop a common understanding regarding the competitive environment and what the organization's response to that environment should be. A variety of strategic planning tools may be completed as part of strategic planning activities.

The organization's leaders may have a series of questions they want to be answered in formulating the strategy and gathering inputs.

Outputs

The output of strategic planning includes documentation and communication describing the organization's strategy and how it should be implemented, sometimes referred to as the strategic plan. The strategy may include a diagnosis of the competitive situation, a guiding policy for achieving the organization's goals, and specific action plans to be implemented. A strategic plan may cover multiple years and be updated periodically.

The organization may use a variety of methods of measuring and monitoring progress towards the strategic objectives and measures established, such as a balanced scorecard or strategy map. Organizations may also plan their financial statements (i.e., balance sheets, income statements, and cash flows) for several years when developing their strategic plan, as part of the goal-setting activity. The term operational budget is often used to describe the expected financial performance of an organization for the upcoming year. Capital budgets very often form the backbone of a strategic plan, especially as it increasingly relates to Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Outcomes

While the planning process produces outputs, strategy implementation or execution of the strategic plan produces outcomes. These outcomes will invariably differ from the strategic goals. How close they are to the strategic goals and vision will determine the success or failure of the strategic plan. Unintended outcomes might also be an issue. They need to be attended to and understood for strategy development and execution to be a true learning process.

Tools and approaches

2011 video explaining the strategic plan of the Wikimedia Foundation

A variety of analytical tools and techniques are used in strategic planning. These were developed by companies and management consulting firms to help provide a framework for strategic planning. Such tools include:

PEST analysis, which covers the remote external environment elements such as political, economic, social and technological (PESTLE adds legal/regulatory and ecological/environmental);
Scenario planning, which was originally used in the military and recently used by large corporations to analyze future scenarios.
Porter five forces analysis, which addresses industry attractiveness and rivalry through the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers and the threat of substitute products and new market entrants;
SWOT analysis, which addresses internal strengths and weaknesses relative to the external opportunities and threats;
Growth-share matrix, which involves portfolio decisions about which businesses to retain or divest; and
Balanced scorecards and strategy maps, which creates a systematic framework for measuring and controlling strategy.
Responsive evaluation, which uses a constructivist evaluation approach to identify the outcomes of objectives, which then supports future strategic planning exercises.
VRIO Framework, which determines the competitive advantage of a product or a service through evaluating four elements such as value, rarity, imitability and organization.

Strategic planning vs. financial planning

Simply extending financial statement projections into the future without consideration of the competitive environment is a form of financial planning or budgeting, not strategic planning. In business, the term "financial plan" is often used to describe the expected financial performance of an organization for future periods. The term "budget" is used for a financial plan for the upcoming year. A "forecast" is typically a combination of actual performance year-to-date plus expected performance for the remainder of the year, so is generally compared against plan or budget and prior performance. The financial plans accompanying a strategic plan may include three–five years of projected performance.

McKinsey & Company developed a capability maturity model in the 1970s to describe the sophistication of planning processes, with strategic management ranked the highest. The four stages include:

Financial planning, which is primarily about annual budgets and a functional focus, with limited regard for the environment;
Forecast-based planning, which includes multi-year financial plans and more robust capital allocation across business units;
Externally oriented planning, where a thorough situation analysis and competitive assessment is performed;
Strategic management, where widespread strategic thinking occurs and a well-defined strategic framework is used.

Categories 3 and 4 are strategic planning, while the first two categories are non-strategic or essentially financial planning. Each stage builds on the previous stages; that is, a stage 4 organization completes activities in all four categories.

Later McKinsey research undertaken and published in 2006 found that, although many companies had a formal strategic-planning process, the process was not being used for their "most important decisions".

For Michael C. Sekora, Project Socrates founder in the Reagan White House, during the cold war the economically challenged Soviet Union was able to keep on western military capabilities by using technology-based planning while the U.S. was slowed by finance-based planning, until the Reagan administration launched the Socrates Project, which should be revived to keep up with China as an emerging superpower.

Criticism

Strategic planning vs. strategic thinking

Strategic planning has been criticized for attempting to systematize strategic thinking and strategy formation, which Henry Mintzberg argues are inherently creative activities involving synthesis or "connecting the dots" which cannot be systematized. Mintzberg argues that strategic planning can help coordinate planning efforts and measure progress on strategic goals, but that it occurs "around" the strategy formation process rather than within it. It functions remote from the "front lines" or contact with the competitive environment (i.e., in business, facing the customer where the effect of competition is most clearly evident) may not be effective at supporting strategy efforts.

Evidence on strategic planning's impact

While much criticism surrounds strategic planning, evidence suggests that it does work. In a 2019 meta-analysis including data from almost 9,000 public and private organizations, strategic planning is found to have a positive impact on organizational performance. Strategic planning is particularly potent in enhancing an organization's capacity to achieve its goals (i.e., effectiveness). However, the study argues that just having a plan is not enough. For strategic planning to work, it needs to include some formality (i.e., including an analysis of the internal and external environment and the stipulation of strategies, goals and plans based on these analyses), comprehensiveness (i.e., producing many strategic options before selecting the course to follow) and careful stakeholder management (i.e., thinking carefully about whom to involve during the different steps of the strategic planning process, how, when and why).

Strategic plans as tools to communicate and control

Henry Mintzberg in the article "The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning" (1994), argued that the lesson that should be accepted is that managers will never be able to take charge of strategic planning through a formalized process. Therefore, he underscored the role of plans as tools to communicate and control. It ensures that there is coordination wherein everyone in the organization is moving in the same direction. The plans are the prime media communicating the management's strategic intentions, thereby promoting a common direction instead of individual discretion. It is also the tool to secure the support of the organization's external sphere, such as financiers, suppliers or government agencies, who are helping achieve the organization's plans and goals.

The strategic plan genre of communication

Cornut, et al (2012) studied the particular features of the strategic plan genre of communication by examining a corpus of strategic plans from public and non-profit organizations. They defined strategic plans as the "key material manifestation" of organizations' strategies and argued that, even though strategic plans are specific to an organization, there is a generic quality that draws on shared institutional understanding on the substance, form and communicative purposes of the strategic plan. Hence, they posit that strategic plan is a genre of organizational communication (Bhatia, 2004; Yates and Orlikowski, 1992 as cited in Cornut et al., 2012). In this sense, genre is defined as the "conventionalized discursive actions in which participating individuals or institutions have shared perceptions of communicative purposes as well as those of constraints operating their construction, interpretation and conditions of use" (Bhatia, 2004: 87; see also Frow, 2005; Swales, 1990 as cited in Cornut et al., 2012).

The authors compared the corpus of strategic plans with nine other corpora. This included annual reports from the public sector and nongovernment organizations, research articles, project plans, executive speeches, State of the Union addresses, horoscopes, religious sermons, business magazine articles and annual reports for-profit corporations included in the Standard & Poor's 500 largest companies (S&P 500).

The authors used textual analysis, including content analysis and corpus linguistics. Content analysis was used to identify themes and concepts, such as values and cognition; while corpus linguistics was used to identify naturally occurring texts and patterns (Biber, et al, 1998 as cited in Cornut et al., 2012).

Taking a stance

The strategic plans showed significantly less self-reference than all other corpora, with the exemption of project plans and S&P 500 annual reports. The results indicated that strategic plans have more moderate verbs of deontic value. This was interpreted as an indication that "commands and commitments are not overtly hedged, but neither are they particularly strong".

Guidance on the sections of a strategic plan abound but there are few studies about the nature of language used for these documents. Cornut, et al's (2012) study showed that writers of strategic plans have a shared understanding of what is the appropriate language. Thus, the authors argued, a true strategist is one who is able to instantiate the genre strategic plan through appropriate application of language.

Strategic planning as communicative process

Spee, et. al. (2011) explored the strategic planning as communicative process based on Ricoeur's concepts of decontextualization and recontextualization, they conceptualize strategic planning activities as being constituted through the iterative and recursive relationship of talk and text, this elaborate the construction of a strategic plan as a communicative process. This study looks at the way that texts within the planning process, such as PowerPoint presentations, planning documents and targets that are part of a strategic plan, are constructed in preparation, through a series of communicative interface. Throughout the process, strategy documents were essential in detaining the developing strategy as they were constantly revised up until an ultimate plan was accepted.

The book edited by Mandeville-Gamble (2015) sees the roles of managers as important in terms of communicating the strategic vision of the organization. Many of the authors in the book by Mandeville-Gamble agree that a strategic plan is merely an unrealized vision unless it is widely shared and sparks the willingness to change within individuals in the organization. Similarly, Goodman in 2017 emphasized that the advent of the internet and social media has become one of the most important vehicle to which corporate strategic plan can be distributed to an organizations internal and external stakeholders. This distribution of knowledge allows for staff of organization to access and share the institutional thinking this able to reformulate it in their own words.

Strategic planning through control mechanisms

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Strategic planning through control mechanisms (mostly by the way of a communication program) is set in the hopes of coming to desired outcomes that reflect company or organizational goals. As further supplement to this idea, controls can also be realized in both measurable and intangible controls, specifically output controls, behavioural controls, and clan controls. By way of simple definition, output controls work toward to tangible and quantifiable results; behavioural controls are geared toward behaviours of people in an organization; and clan controls are dependent and are executed while keeping in mind norms, traditions, and organizational culture. All these three are implemented in order to keep systems and strategies running and focused toward desired results (n.d.).

Strategic planning, learning organizations, and communication

Strategic planning is both the impetus for and result of critical thinking, optimization, and motivation for the growth and development of organizations. The core disciplines, which are inherent in systems thinking, personal and organizational mastery, mental models, building a shared vision, and team learning. In a time of machine learning and data analytics, these core disciplines remain to be relevant in so far as having human resource and human interest become the driving force behind organizations.

Moreover, it cannot be denied that communication plays a role in the realization of learning organizations and strategic planning. In a study by Barker and Camarata (1998), the authors noted that there are theories that could explain the invaluable role of communication, and these are from Rational Choice Theory to Social Exchange Theory where costs, rewards, and outcomes are valued in maintaining communication and thus relationships to serve the ends of an organization and its members. Thus, while many organizations and companies try their best to become learning organizations and exercise strategic planning, without communication, relationships fail and the core disciplines are never truly met (Barker & Camarata, 1998).

References

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Michael C. Sekora (Feb 2, 2018). "Opinion: The Cold War Budget Tool That Could Save The Pentagon". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
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