Question

A chief executive officer (CEO) of Coronavirus Zambia Limited, Fwenkhu
Fwenkhu said: ‘Strategic management concept is ridiculous, archaic and,
therefore redundant in a modern dynamic business environment; and talking
about such in a modern business is displaying how foolish someone is.’
Agreeing with Fwenkhu Fwenkhu, Kandiyo Kanga, in her usual emotional
tone, said this is why there is no difference between Strategic planning and
Strategic implementation. Confused with what Fwenkhu Fwenkhu and
Kandiyo Kanga have stated, most of the organisations have stopped
formulating strategic plans for their respective organisations. And as a result,
no business strategies are formulated.
TASK:
As a strategic management consultant,
(a) Show whether strategic management is necessarily or not in line with
the above given arguments.

(b) With relevant examples, argue for or against that perception that
strategic planning and strategic implementation are never the same.

(c) If strategic management works, under what conditions of an
organisation can such be helpful to an organisation?

Answer 1

A. Strategy is the long term path which provides direction to our future actions. The importance and existence of strategic management can not be ignored. People and organizations have overcome many problems with the help of strategic management. It helps us to prepare for the worst conditions that we can face in future. In case of corona pandemic which has coverd almost every country and obviously people were not prepared for this virus and it was beyond anticipation. But after it came, we can use strategic management as the tool to fight from this virus and improve the condition or stop is from showing its worst effects. We can prepare ourselves by arranging new beds, ventilators and building new infrastructure. In case we do not prepare, we can face worst of it. In this way l, strategic management can help us.  

B. This is true that strategic planning and implementation can not be same. We plan for future conditions which will be different from current conditions. We follow the approach which is prevelent in present but in future, things may change. Therefore implementation is never same as planning. There is always a deviation from what we planned and what actually happened. In case of the corona virus, many countries are trying to prepare for tough conditions but nobody knows what exactly will happen in future, how much of the resources we will require or will these resources be sufficient for future conditions.

C. There are so many factors which are responsible and important for successful strategy and implementation.

1. It requires support from top management in terms of guidance, resources etc.

2. It requires qualified and experienced workforce to work in right direction.

3. It requires team work and synergy.

These are the key factors which make strategy and its implementation successful.