STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING AND PLANNING

Assignment: Strategic decision making and planning - 2,500 words

Assignment: Strategic decision making and planning

Introduction

Strategic planning refers to a process which defines an organization's strategy, directions and decisions to effectively allocate its available scarce resources. Effective usage of strategic planning can greatly enhance the performance. Strategic planning is regarded as a very critical and important business activity and it also enjoys a universal appeal. A strategic plan is not the same as a business or an operational plan. It is presented in a short document and is the foundation for a business plan. (Lorenzen, 2006, 73-89)

What to do before the establishment of a strategic plan? The business managers must make the required studies to clearly identify the objectives, regulations and strategies of the present business. The plan may also relate to any new business or opportunity that is likely to be undertaken by the organization. (Lorenzen, 2006, 73-89)

When identified and defined in a correct manner, these plans can be efficiently used as the foundation to make a critical examination to study the positive and negative fields. After this, development plans can be formulated by the managers to attain self-sufficiency and success.

Essentials of a sound strategic plan The plan must be feasible, flexible, attainable and realistic. It must be drafted and formulated after careful study and scrutiny. Unless the plan is made in such a manner, the business mangers will not be able to think and act strategically. This will eventually hamper the growth of the business. To ensure success and fulfillment of business goals, it is essential that the strategic plans are framed and implemented by the management in the most effective way. These plans must be communicated to the subordinates so that they can make efforts towards realization of the targets. Importance of strategic planning It is often seen that nowadays the business managers at times lose their ultimate goals due to small but immediate issues. This is the primary reason why strategic planning is essential. Just to establish a strategic plan does not mean that all is done, the establishment of plan is just the beginning. It cannot be treated as a recipe for complete success, it is just an option to enhance business operations. To achieve high levels of customer satisfaction, overall efficiency and reliability, strategic plans can prove to be beneficial to a great extent. Business performance is enhanced by effective usage and implementation of these plans. (Lorenzen, 2006, 73-89)

Explantion

It is important from the perspective of a business that the strategic plans must serve as frameworks for effective decision-making. They must be such that they can assist monitoring of performance and benchmarking. Managers can make use of strategic planning to enhance the business performance. Strategic planning is thus considered beneficial for the achievement of business goals. Simply put, strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next year or more, how it's going to get there and how it'll know if it got there or ...