Strategic Planning Failure | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Strategic Planning Failure

Strategic management is the process of defining the purpose and pursuits of an organization and the methods for achieving them. Robert Grant emphasizes that competition provides the rationale for strategy because strategy is about winning. It follows then that the inter-dependence of competitors is the essence of strategy—actions of individual competitors and teams of competitors affect outcomes for other participants. In other words, organizational leaders must "play the game" strategically because their organizations are involved in a game of strategy (e.g., chess) not simply a game of chance (e.g., bingo) or a game of skill (e.g., tennis). Of course, the necessary skills must exist, and at times things will happen that were not predictable. However, each organization must have a strategic focus if it intends to survive and flourish in the long term.

The overall strategic management model can be broken into two major phases: strategy development and strategy deployment. Strategy development is the creation and establishment of an organization's overall mission and vision and the means to achieve them. Strategic development includes the following elements of the strategic management model:

• Mission—Why does the organization exist?
• Internal and External Assessments—What are the internal strengths and weaknesses and external threats and opportunities?
• Vision—Where does the organization want to be in the future?
• Goals and Objectives—What are the overall, high-level desired results as well as specific, measurable outcomes required to achieve the mission and vision?
• Strategy Formulation—What is the plan of how and when to achieve the goals and objectives? This includes strategies, tactics, and action plans (Who will do what and when?)

Strategy deployment, or implementation, is the translation of strategic plans into actions and results.

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