Essay Sample for Everyone on the Strategic Planning Process

The strategic process is explained as the approach that is established by the managers and leaders to implement a strategy that can help the organization gain and maintain its sustainable competitive edge. The strategic planning process, on the other hand, can be defined as a systematic way of implementing a strategic plan through various stages including initial assessment, analysis, and formulation of strategy, implementation and lastly evaluation. This report will provide the analysis of the key components of a strategic planning framework, provide an assessment of the value of using a strategic planning framework, and explains the role of leadership in the strategic planning process for a consulting firm that makes regular contributions to a national publication.

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The Key Components of a Strategic Planning Framework

Usually, the most successful organization does not presume that with time things will work out, as a result, the owners and the management team are forced to come up with long-term objectives that can be achieved that promote its image in the market. A strategic planning framework, therefore, presents the structure of establishing the long-term objectives of the organization by focusing on various key components (Olsen, 2013). The first component is the initial assessment of the firm. In this component, the leaders should clarify the vision and mission statement of the organization. The goal of the vision statement is to answer the question what the firm will want to be in the future. The mission statement, on the other hand, guides the managers while making decisions, about the product and service, offered the customers, employees and much more.

The other component is the analysis of the current situation of the organization in the market which includes analyzing both the internal and external factors that affect or likely to affect the organization. The managers can use tools such as PESTEL and Porter's Five Forces to analyze the external environment of the organization. Tools such as the SWOT framework, on the other hand, can be used to analyze the internal factors, by assessing the core competencies and the resources that the organization has. Through the situation analysis, the strength and weakness of the organization as well threats and opportunities are identified.

The other key component of a strategic planning framework is the formulation of the strategy. After the analysis of the current market situation of the firm, the next step is to come up with achievable long-term objectives. The long-term objectives include the strategy that can help the firm achieve its competitive position in the market in the long run. It is important to note that in an organization, the strategy is formulated and chosen at different levels, including business-level strategy, corporate level strategy and international strategy. The long-term objective of the firm determines the strategy to be chosen by the managers.

The other key component is strategy implementation. Without the implementation and effective execution of the strategy, it will be impossible for the firm to achieve its competitive advantage. This component highly requires the application of the managerial skills, rather than just provide an analysis. Communication is also key to effective implementation of the strategy. Establishing annual objectives of the organization is important during the implementation process. The other important factor to consider during the implementation of the strategy is the organizational structure and culture. This is important as it will be easier to distribute the responsibilities evenly. The last important component of a strategic planning framework is strategy monitoring and evaluation. It is important to monitor the implementation process continuously because during the implementation both internal and external environment can change. Thus, monitoring makes it easier to adjust the strategy to meet the new changes.

The Value of Using a Strategic Planning Framework

The AFI Framework is essential to strategic process because, through this framework, it is easier to describe the long-term goals that the firm intends to achieve and lay down the activities that will be implemented to ensure that the organization achieves its competitive advantage (Trivedi and Griffin, 2013). The other value of using a strategic planning framework is that it makes it easier for the organization to separate the initial assessment from the situation analysis of the current market. Also, it should be noted that a strategic planning framework emphasizes the primary strategic objective of the organization, which is to achieve a competitive advantage.

The Role of Leadership in the Strategic Planning Process

Leaders play a vital role in the strategic planning process, especially in the formulation and implementation stage (Stringham, 2012). The primary roles of leadership in the strategic planning process are to ensure that the delegation of the responsibilities is effective. It is the role of the organization's leadership to identify the departments and team that are accountable to ensure that the implementation process is done within the stipulated time frame. It is also the role of the leadership in the strategic planning process to set up a monitoring system to promote the efficiency of the strategic process. To sum up, the strategic process can be said to be a philosophical approach to the organization, whereby the leadership team of the organization is required to think strategically.

References

Olsen, E. (2013). Strategic planning for dummies. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.

Stringham, S. (2012). Strategic leadership and strategic management: leading and managing change on the edge of chaos. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse.

Trivedi, S. K., & Griffin, J. J. (2013). Rothaermel's Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. Journal of Business Ethics Education, 10, 365-369.