Importance of Strategic Planning

Strategic management

As per tutor2u.net "Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organization through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations".

In other words, strategy is about:

“* Where is the business trying to get to in the long-term (direction)

* Which markets should a business compete in and what kind of activities are involved in such markets? (markets; scope)

* How can the business perform better than the competition in those markets? (advantage)?

* What resources (skills, assets, finance, relationships, technical competence, facilities) are required in order to be able to compete? (resources)?

* What external, environmental factors affect the businesses' ability to compete? (environment)?

* What are the values and expectations of those who have power in and around the business? (stakeholders)”

As per quickmba, “Strategic planning clearly defines objectives and assesses both the internal and external situation to formulate strategy, implement the strategy, evaluate the progress, and make adjustments as necessary to stay on track.”

Importance of Strategic Management and Planning

Strategic management provides guidance to the organization and sets the future direction of the organization. It helps the organization in achieving the competitive advantage to the organization. It also tells about the organization about its market, values and the way to handle the resources in order to meet the objectives of the organization. Thus Strategy and planning will help the organizations in following manner:

1) Help in establishing objectives after analyzing the internal and external environment.

2) It will focus on the aspects which will make the organization unique to achieve competitive advantage. As per quickmba, Competitive advantage is a firm's ability to transform inputs into goods and services at a maximum profit on a sustained basis, better than competitors.

3) It will provide the future direction and path to the organization

4) It will help in optimal utilization of the resources

5) It will help in controlling the action of the organization

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References:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-importance-of-strategic-planning-in-business.html. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 7 Feb 2009 20:04:15 GMT.

http://tutor2u.net/business/strategy/what_is_strategy.htm.

http://www.tutor2u.net/business/strategy/business-planning-introduction.html

http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/strategic-planning/

http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/global/

What Every Manager Should Learn From Sales

I thought to share this nice article:

Business is all about customers and selling. That’s why every manager and executive should be a salesperson once in his career. The skills and lessons are indispensible and difficult to learn any other way.

I don’t care if you manage engineers, marketing, operations, or customer service; you’re still a salesperson. You sell every day. You don’t just sell products and services; you sell your projects, budget, ideas, and capabilities. And your customers aren’t just the paying kind; they include everybody you interface with.

I spent years in sales, even took a step back from a management career to learn the skills. It was the best career move I ever made. I learned some critical lessons along the way; here are five:

What Every Manager Should Learn From Sales

* Shut up and listen. Nothing you’ve ever read or learned is nearly as important as what the person across from you is about to say … if you just shut up and listen. When you talk first, you lock yourself into a position or path. But if you listen, you gain far more information.
* Problems create opportunities. Your biggest and best opportunities to make a difference will always be when things go wrong. How you respond in time of crisis, when somebody needs you, is a window into your true capability. And that spells opportunity if you rise to the occasion.
* It’s all about relationships. There are no companies or businesses, just people. Business is all about individuals and their interrelationships. When things go wrong, that’s the glue that holds everything together. There’s no such thing as a self-sustaining business.
* Your customer always does come first. Call it business Karma, but whatever you have going on, whatever you expect to accomplish on any given day, when somebody, anybody comes to you with a problem, help them first. Remember: you have way more customers than you think.
* Understand motives. When you think about what you’re going to say or do, you miss an opportunity to make a difference. If, on the other hand, you ask, “how can I help you,” or ask yourself “what’s in it for her,” you’ll be in a far better position to help … and recognize opportunities.

Last Word
The beauty of selling is that you learn under fire, which naturally accelerates the learning process. There truly is no better way to learn how business really works.

http://blogs.bnet.com/ceo/?p=2205&tag=nl.e808