Question

“Know where you are at, know where you are going, and know how you will get there.” Explain this phrase using the key elements of a strategic plan.

Answer 1

Strategic planning is process of determining organizational strategy. It gives direction to the organization and involves making decisions and allocating resources to pursue the strategy. It is the formal consideration of future course of an organization. Strategic planning deals with one or more of three key questions:

• What are we doing?
• For whom do we do it?
• How to improve and excel?

Strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next year or more and the ways for going there. The process is organization-wide, or focused on a major function such as a division or other major function.

As such strategic planning is a top level management function. The flow of planning can be from corporate to divisional level or vice-versa. There are two approaches for strategic planning - top down or bottom up. Top down strategic planning describes a centralized approach to strategy formulation in which the corporate centre or head office determines mission, strategic intent, objectives and strategies for the organization as a whole and for all parts. Unit managers are seen as implementers of pre-specified corporate strategies. Bottom up strategic planning is the characteristic of autonomous or semi-autonomous divisions or subsidiary companies in which the corporate centre does not conceptualize its strategic role as being directly responsible for determining the mission, objectives, or strategies of its operational activities. It may prefer to act as a catalyst and facilitator, keeping things reasonably simple and confining itself to perspective and broader strategic intent.