Your organization understands that you have just completed your studies in

Strategic Management at ZIM and they have approached you to prepare a

STRATEGIC PLAN to the BOD on how the organization can slick out of its
current declining business. In the write up you are supposed to indicate the
full basis of any arguments/position(s) that you have taken, the method that
you would have used to gather the background information, giving an
adequate exposition on the current situation and firm recommendations on the
escape strategy. [100]
What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is the process of developing specific business strategies, putting

them into action, and analysing the results in terms of a company's overall long-term
goals or wants (Immordino, Gigliotti, Ruben & Tromp, 2016). It's a notion that
focuses on a company's strategic goals being met through integrating several
departments (such as accounting and finance, marketing, and human resources).
The terms "strategic planning" and "strategic management" are almost
interchangeable. The strategic planning process necessitates considerable thought
and planning from a company's executive management.

Executives may explore a variety of possibilities before deciding on a course of

action and selecting how to strategically implement it. Finally, a company's
management should choose a strategy that is most likely to create good results
(typically defined as increasing the company's bottom line) and that can be
implemented in a cost-effective manner with a high probability of success while
avoiding unnecessary financial risk. The strategic planning process in comprises of
three stages which include strategy formulation, strategy implementation and
strategy evaluation (Billups, 2015).

A strategic plan for CASSAVA SMARTECH (Subsidiary of Econet Wireless)

Cassava Smartech is a diversified Smartech company with a mission to leverage
digital solutions to boost socioeconomic development and improve the overall quality
of life for Africans. This organization is on a transformational mission, and envision a
future in which its solutions may touch every person, especially the millions of
previously marginalized Africans. The three stages explained below shows the
strategy planning process that can be employed at Cassava Smartech in addressing
its current declining business.

1. Strategy formulation

Strategy formulation is the process through which an organization picks the most
appropriate courses of action to achieve its set goals (Karami, 2016).  This process
is critical to a company's success because it establishes a framework for the actions
that will result in the desired outcomes. All personnel should be informed about the
organization's aims, mission, and purpose through strategic plans. When developing
a strategy, a business must consider the changing environment and be prepared for
any changes that may arise.

Strategy formulation requires a defined set of 6 steps to ensure effective

implementation and these steps include defining the organization, defining the
strategic mission, defining the strategic objectives, define competitive strategy,
evaluate strategies and evaluate progress (Satyro, Sacomano, Contador, Almeida &
Giannetti, 2017).

Cassava Smartech offers insurance products for example the funeral assurance
program called Ecosure. Although insurance products are there to spread the risk of
loss to a larger group and give people peace of mind, the public still find it difficult to
understand insurance products such as a hospital cashback plan offered at Cassava
Smartech. Cassava Smartech is supposed to practice market segmentation through
identification of a group of people who acknowledges and understand how insurance
products operate. On the other hand, the organization can embrace excellence
through doing public awareness campaigns to educate them about insurance needs.

Cassava Smartech should identify its target market as a way of defining the
organization. To identify its target, Cassava Smartech should not only focus on
demographic segmentation (that includes age, income, gender, education, lifestyle
and culture) but can implement psychographic factors for example by understanding
the values, attitudes, opinions and lifestyles of its customers. The organization can
find better ways to meet its customer needs for example, Cassava Smartech
introduced “ECOSURE” as an insurance service through the use of database mining.
Data base mining makes it easy for Cassava Smartech to identify its potential
customers for new products such as ECOSURE and VAYA AFRICA by identifying its
high valued customers who frequently use Cassava Smartech services such as
banking (through Steward Bank).

The strategic mission of Cassava Smartech provides a long-term view of what the
company aspires to achieve in the future. A clearly articulated mission will serve as a
road map for carrying out the organization's ambitions. The organization's beliefs,
the nature of the business, specific abilities or position in the marketplace, and the
organization's vision for where it wants to be in the future should all be included in a
strong strategic mission statement.

Cassava Smartech should be able to identify the performance targets that are
required to meet the specified goals. Market position with relation to competitors,
production of goods and services, desired market share, improved customer service,
company expansion, technological advancements, and sales increases are
examples of these objectives. To be successful, strategic objectives must be
conveyed to all employees and stakeholders. All members of the organization must
understand their position in the process and how their contributions help the
organization achieve its goals. Members of the organization should also have their
own set of goals and performance targets for their specific roles.

Cassava Smartech should consider where it fits into the market when developing its
strategy. This is true not only for the corporation as a whole, but also for each
particular unit and department within it. Each department must understand its role
within the business and how those duties help the company stay competitive.
Another element in the competitive strategy process is for a company to come up
with proactive solutions to market shifts. The organization must not wait for market
events to occur before taking action; instead, they must identify potential
occurrences and be ready to act. The organization should identify its resources and
also determining the ways in which those resources should be used. Each
department, division, or location will have its own set of requirements, and a
business must decide how to allocate resources to meet those requirements.

The organization must be completely aware of its internal capabilities and how those
qualities relate to the competition when establishing a competitive strategy. These
assets should be used and leveraged to the company's advantage, as well as
highlighted in all of the company's business and marketing efforts. It is also critical
for a company to examine its areas of weakness honestly. Outside market
conditions, such as competitive gains, technological advancements, economic shifts,
and other variables, might make a company vulnerable. A company's competitive
position will be strengthened by recognizing areas that require improvement and
taking efforts to address such issues.

2. Strategy implementation

Strategy implementation refers to the execution of plans and strategies in order to

achieve the organization's long-term goals (Alharthy, Rashid, Pagliari & Khan, 2017).
It translates the chosen strategy into the organization's motions and actions in order
to achieve the goals. The strategic implementation process is comprised of five key
elements which include defining the key strategy framework, building the plan,
defining key performance indicators, establishment of the strategy rhythm and
implementing consistent and simple strategy reports.

Cassava Smartech must first define the strategy framework before moving forward
with the implementation of its strategy. On the one hand, strategy should be
imbedded in everything done by the organization. It should be imbedded in the
organization's and its employees' DNA. On the other side, if an organization does not
make a concerted effort to call it out, you will not receive the attention or momentum
that you require. Cassava Smartech should begin with a simple framework that
presents a strategy lexicon that everyone can grasp and support. When someone
asks, "How are our strategic objectives coming along?" everyone should have a
clear understanding of what that implies.

Cassava Smartech should convene the organization's executives (founders, CEO,

directors, etc.) to agree on its vision before implementing a strategic plan. This can
be done in a workshop, and there must be creation of a popular piece that may also
be of use. Organizations are expected to lay out the values that they hold during the
same workshop. If the organization is having difficulties, it should read this post
about developing values or this post about how we accomplished it at Cascade.
Cassava Smartech is anticipated to take the basic framework back to its team(s) and
have them start contributing ideas for strategic objectives under each of the
emphasis areas individually. This becomes a wonderful technique to assure buy-in to
the final result of your strategic plan if the organization wants to assign one focus
area to each member of its leadership team and have them lead the charge in
fleshing out that focus area.

The relevance of key performance indicators in strategic implementation cannot be

overstated. Because they function, key performance indicators are one of the oldest
management tools available. They keep a company focused on its goals and honest
about its progress. They must serve as models for putting the approach into action.
Keep KPIs basic, come up with simple ratios that only a limited number of people
understand, and make them simple and approachable to everyone in the
organization are a few pointers when it comes to coming up with your own - and
some instances of KPIs that are utilized in business.

3. Strategy evaluation

Strategy evaluation is the process by which strategists determine the extent to which
a strategy may achieve its goals (Punt, Butterworth, de Moor, De Oliveira & Haddon,
2016). The part of the strategic management process in which top managers decide
whether their strategic choice, as implemented, is meeting the enterprise's objectives
is known as strategy evaluation. Strategic evaluation involves four key elements
which include fixing benchmark of performance, measurement of performance,
analyzing variance and taking correct action.

According to Billups (2015), strategists face questions such as "what benchmarks to

set, how to set them, and how to express them" when determining the benchmark.
The particular criteria for executing the main work must be discovered in order to
decide the benchmark performance to be set. The performance indicator that best
identifies and expresses the unique criteria can then be chosen for evaluation. For a
complete evaluation of performance, Cassava Smartech should use both
quantitative and qualitative criteria. Quantitative factors include net profit, return on
investment, earnings per share, cost of production, and employee turnover rate,
among others. Subjective evaluations of elements such as abilities and
competencies, risk-taking capacity, flexibility, and so on are among the qualitative
criteria.

Standard performance serves as a benchmark against which real performance can

be measured. Reporting and communication mechanisms aid in performance
evaluation. Strategy review becomes easier if proper tools for measuring
performance are accessible and relevant standards are established. However, other
aspects, such as the influence of managers, are harder to quantify. Similarly, as
compared to individual achievement, divisional performance might be difficult to
assess. As a result, variable objectives must be established against which
performance can be measured. If the measurement is not done at the appropriate
time, the evaluation will not be effective. Financial statements such as the balance
sheet and profit and loss accounts must be created on an annual basis to measure
performance.

Cassava Smartech is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), therefore it is a

statutory requirement for them to publish financial statements for review by the
public, relevant stakeholders particularly regulators and shareholders. By so doing,
this helps the organization to do benchmarking with other institutions which are listed
on the ZSE to compare dividends declared to shareholders, corporate governance
issues in place as well as analyzing the financial statements of its competitors and
other disclosure requirements in place.

There may be deviations that must be analyzed when assessing real performance
and comparing it to standard performance. Cassava Smartech must specify the
tolerance levels within which the difference between actual and expected
performance can be tolerated. Positive deviation suggests higher performance;
however, it is unusual to consistently exceed the aim. Negative deviation is a cause
for concern because it implies a performance deficiency. As a result, in this scenario,
the strategists must identify the sources of deviation and take corrective action to
address them.

It is critical to plan for remedial action once the variance in performance has been
recognized (Gruss et al. 2016). If the performance is constantly below the desired
level, the strategists must do a thorough investigation into the elements that are
causing the poor results. Standards must be lowered if the strategists determine that
the organizational potential does not match the performance requirements.
Reformulating the strategy is a rare and harsh corrective action that necessitates
returning to the strategic management process, reframing plans in accordance with
new resource allocation trends, and, as a result, returning to the strategic
management process's inception point.

REFERENCE

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