Module Title: - Contributing to the Development of Strategic Plan

MODULE CODE: ICT DBA4 01 07 17

LO

1. Plan for strategy

2. Investigate the current environment
3. Participate in feedback session
4. Finalize and validate plan

UNDERSTANDING STRATEGIC PLANNING

Introduction
What is Strategic Planning?
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on
allocating its resources to pursue this strategy.
There Are Various Different Views and Models -- and the Process You Use Depends 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 not. The focus of a strategic plan is usually on the entire organization, while the focus of a business plan is usually
on a particular product, service or program.

There are a variety of perspectives, models and approaches used in strategic planning. The way that a strategic plan is
developed depends on the nature of the organization's leadership, culture of the organization, complexity of the
organization's environment, size of the organization, expertise of planners, etc. For example, there are a variety of
strategic planning models, including goals-based, issues-based, organic, scenario (some would assert that scenario
planning is more of a technique than model), etc.

1. Goals-based planning is probably the most common and starts with focus on the organization's mission (and
vision and/or values), goals to work toward the mission, strategies to achieve the goals, and action planning
(who will do what and by when).
2. Issues-based strategic planning often starts by examining issues facing the organization, strategies to
address those issues and action plans.
3. Organic strategic planning might start by articulating the organization's vision and values, and then action
plans to achieve the vision while adhering to those values. Some planners prefer a particular approach to
planning, eg, appreciative inquiry.

Some plans are scoped to one year, many to three years, and some to five to ten years into the future. Some plans
include only top-level information and no action plans. Some plans are five to eight pages long, while others can be
considerably longer.

Quite often, an organization's strategic planners already know much of what will go into a strategic plan (this is true
for business planning, too). However, development of the strategic plan greatly helps to clarify the organization's
plans and ensure that key leaders are all "on the same script". Far more important than the strategic plan document, is
the strategic planning process itself.

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Also, in addition to the size of the organization, differences in how organizations carry out the planning activities are
more of a matter of the nature of the participants in the organization -- than its for-profit/nonprofit status. For
example, detail-oriented people may prefer a linear, top-down, general-to-specific approach to planning. On the other
hand, rather artistic and highly reflective people may favor of a highly divergent and "organic" approach to planning.

"Strategic planning is the PROCESS by which the GUIDING MEMBERS of an organization ENVISION its future
and develop the necessary PROCEDURES AND OPERATIONS to achieve that future"

Strategy is nothing but a planning, coordination, execution.

The word strategy has military connotations, because it derives from Greek word of general. A Strategy is a plan
designed to achieve a goal. In every field like game, business we should have strategy without strategy we can't do
anything.

Strategy is different from tactics. All the company should have a strategy to achieve the goal and survive in the
market and to fulfill the expectation of stakeholder (one who interest or affect in the business). Stakeholder involves
owners, managers, shareholder, creditors, customers, employees, suppliers, government, local community etc.

The Strategic Planning Process

In today's highly competitive business environment, budget-oriented planning or forecast-based planning methods are
insufficient for a large corporation to survive and prosper. The firm must engage in strategic planning that 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.

A simplified view of the strategic planning process is shown by the following diagram:

Mission and Objectives

The mission statement describes the company's business vision, including the unchanging values and purpose of the
firm and forward-looking visionary goals that guide the pursuit of future opportunities. Guided by the business vision,
the firm's leaders can define measurable financial and strategic objectives. Financial objectives involve measures such
as sales targets and earnings growth. Strategic objectives are related to the firm's business position, and may include
measures such as market share and reputation.

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Environmental Scan

The environmental scan includes the following components:

1. Internal analysis of the firm

2. Analysis of the firm's industry (task environment)
3. External macro environment (PEST analysis)

The internal analysis can identify the firm's strengths and weaknesses and the external analysis reveals opportunities
and threats. A profile of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is generated by means of a SWOT
analysis

An industry analysis can be performed using a framework developed by Michael Porter known as Porter's five forces.
This framework evaluates entry barriers, suppliers, customers, substitute products, and industry rivalry.

Strategy Formulation

Given the information from the environmental scan, the firm should match its strengths to the opportunities that it has
identified, while addressing its weaknesses and external threats.

To attain superior profitability, the firm seeks to develop a competitive advantage over its rivals. A competitive
advantage can be based on cost or differentiation. Michael Porter identified three industry-independent generic
strategies from which the firm can choose.

Strategy Implementation

The selected strategy is implemented by means of programs, budgets, and procedures. Implementation involves
organization of the firm's resources and motivation of the staff to achieve objectives.

The way in which the strategy is implemented can have a significant impact on whether it will be successful. In a
large company, those who implement the strategy likely will be different people from those who formulated it. For
this reason, care must be taken to communicate the strategy and the reasoning behind it. Otherwise, the
implementation might not succeed if the strategy is misunderstood or if lower-level managers resist its
implementation because they do not understand why the particular strategy was selected.

Evaluation & Control

The implementation of the strategy must be monitored and adjustments made as needed.

Evaluation and control consists of the following steps:

1. Define parameters to be measured

2. Define target values for those parameters
3. Perform measurements
4. Compare measured results to the pre-defined standard
5. Make necessary changes

Three level of strategy are

1. corporate strategy,

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2. competitive or business strategy,
3. Operational or functional strategy.

For perfect strategy planning we have to work in business ethics. All the staffs, manager, strategy maker have to work
in organize way to achieve the goal and fulfill the expectation of stakeholders. Planner or strategy maker have skill to
realize the competition in the market and make the plan or strategy which is easily to understand by everyone and it is
new and fresh that surprise the competitor. Planner should improve their service of his mission to get more profit.
Planner also knows the present and future aspects of this mission. The planner has also think about the distribution
and sale facility of its mission. Strategy are making in ethical ways that it does not affect the moral values and culture
of the people, employer and society. Strategy is making by consider all the factors like legislation, geographic,
financial, social and political that affecting business. Strategy is making in such a way that, it will always success and
fulfill the expectation of the stakeholder. Strategy planning is to bring together, think and execute in ethical way.

Analysis
What is long term strategic planning process?
Why it is direction and scope of organization?

The strategy is direction and scope of business. This will give an effective environment to work in coordinate or
together. For An effective approach of planning to achieve first organization is clear of mission or goal the, strategy
maker and managers who make the strategy they should follow certain steps which are in circular form and action
steps. The first step is to think or initiate the mission or goal and then agree on that mission by readiness assessment
plan for planning and they also have business knowledge. They also have to consider the sales target and all the
financial aspects. This project is profitable or not in sort they have to measures the earnings growth. Then the planner
or manager or strategy maker should think that what is the requirement and expectation of these projects. This is an
must thing or mandatory thing that strategy maker have to think they must know the various requirement such as raw
material, land, restriction such as government policies legislation, government policies, wars and conflicts
etc ,expectation such as earning growth, sales target fulfill the requirement of stake holder and constraints faces.
Strategy maker should also know the broadcast sense. So we have to know how to deal with the media. Clarify this all
steps again what is the purposes by stakeholder. In tandem to the mission and objective the strategy maker must
analyze the environmental scanning.

The environmental scanning contains three components stated as:

1. Internal analysis of the organization such as SWOT analysis
2. Analysis of the firm's industry (task environment)
3. External macro environment (PEST analysis)
External microenvironments are explained by the PEST analysis. Pest means political, economical, social, technology
factors that influence the business. Pest is factor which is useful tool or responsible for market high or low, reputation,
direction for a business. Pest is also known acronymic as step; this step is taken by all the organization to avoid all
threats and success in the market.

In political factors involves ecological, environmental, all type legislation or law(future, current, international),
regulatory bodies and processes, government policies, government term and change, trading policies, funding, grants
and initiatives, home market pressure- groups, international pressure- groups, wars and conflicts.

Economic factors are Size/growths, inflation rates, exchange rates, income, international trade and monetary policy,
unemployment, fiscal policy, general taxation, overseas economies specific, industry factors, market routes trends,
distribution trends.

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Social factors are lifestyle in an area, demographics (age, sex, geography), Consumer behavior and opinions, media
views for brand, company, technology image consumer buying patterns, fashion and role models, ethical issues,
culture, value, ethical factors, religious factor and marketing and publicity.

Technological factors are competing technology development, research funding, associated and dependent
technologies, maturity of technology, manufacturing maturity and capacity, good information and communications
exchange, consumer buying mechanisms and technology, technology legislation, innovation potential, technology
access, licensing, patents, intellectual property issues and global communications.

Internal analysis is done by SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is strength, weakness, opportunities, threats.

A SWOT analysis measures a business unit while a PEST analysis measures a market. SWOT analysis is done by an
idea and preposition. A SWOT analysis is the personal evaluation of the firm which helps in making decision,
understanding, presentation, discussion and decision making. It is an idea decision making, preposition, method and
option.

Strategic Vision Statement

What is a vision?
Vision statement provides direction and inspiration for organizational goal setting.
Vision is where you see yourself at the end of the horizon OR milestone therein. It is a single statement dream OR
aspiration. Typically a vision has the flavors of 'Being Most admired', 'Among the top league', 'Being known for
innovation', 'being largest and greatest' and so on.
Typically 'most profitable', 'Cheapest' etc. don’t figure in vision statement. Unlike goals, vision is not SMART. It does
not have mathematics OR timelines attached to it.
Vision is a symbol, and a cause to which we want to bond the stakeholders, (mostly employees and sometime share-
holders). As they say, the people work best, when they are working for a cause, than for a goal. Vision provides them
that cause.
Vision is long-term statement and typically generic & grand. Therefore a vision statement does not change unless the
company is getting into a totally different kind of business.

Vision should never carry the 'how' part of vision. For example ' To be the most admired brand in Aviation Industry' is
a fine vision statement, which can be spoiled by extending it to' To be the most admired brand in the Aviation
Industry by providing world-class in-flight services'. The reason for not including 'how' is that 'how' may keep on
changing with time.

Challenges related to Vision Statement:

Putting-up a vision is not a challenge. The problem is to make employees engaged with it. Many a time, terms like
vision, mission and strategy become more a subject of scorn than being looked up-to. This is primarily because
leaders may not be able to make a connect between the vision/mission and people’s every day work. Too often,
employees see a gap between the vision, mission and their goals & priorities. Even if there is a valid/tactical reason
for this miss-match, it is not explained.

Horizon of Vision:

Vision should be the horizon of 5-10 years. If it is less than that, it becomes tactical. If it is of a horizon of 20+ years
(say), it becomes difficult for the strategy to relate to the vision.
Features of a good vision statement:
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  Easy to read and understand.
 Compact and Crisp to leave something to people’s imagination.
 Gives the destination and not the road-map.
 Is meaningful and not too open ended and far-fetched.
 Excite people and make them get goose-bumps.
 Provides a motivating force, even in hard times.
Is perceived as achievable and at the same time is challenging and compelling, stretching us beyond what is
comfortable.

Vision is a dream/aspiration, fine-tuned to reality:

The Entire process starting from Vision down to the business objectives, is highly iterative. The question is from
where should we start. We strongly recommend that vision and mission statement should be made first without being
colored by constraints, capabilities and environment. This can said akin to the vision of armed forces, that’s 'Safe and
Secure country from external threats'. This vision is a non-negotiable and it drives the organization to find ways and
means to achieve their vision, by overcoming constraints on capabilities and resources. Vision should be a stake in the
ground, a position, a dream, which should be prudent, but should be non-negotiable barring few rare circumstances.

Mission Statement
What is a mission?

Mission of an organization is the purpose for which the organization is. Mission is again a single statement, and
carries the statement in verb. Mission in one way is the road to achieve the vision. For example, for a luxury products
company, the vision could be 'To be among most admired luxury brands in the world' and mission could be 'To add
style to the lives'

A good mission statement will be:

 Clear and Crisp: While there are different views, We strongly recommend that mission should only provide
what, and not 'how and when'. We would prefer the mission of 'Making People meet their career' to 'Making
people meet their career through effective career counseling and education'. A mission statement without 'how
& when' element leaves a creative space with the organization to enable them take-up wider strategic choices.
 Have to have a very visible linkage to the business goals and strategy: For example you cannot have a mission
(for a home furnishing company) of 'Bringing Style to People’s lives' while your strategy asks for mass
product and selling. It’s better that either you start selling high-end products to high value customers, OR
change your mission statement to 'Help people build homes'.
 Should not be same as the mission of a competing organization. It should touch upon how its purpose it
unique.

Mission follows the Vision:

The Entire process starting from Vision down to the business objectives, is highly iterative. The question is from
where should be start. I strongly recommend that mission should follow the vision. This is because the purpose of the
organization could change to achieve their vision.
For example to achieve the vision of an Insurance company 'To be the most trusted Insurance Company', the mission
could be first 'making people financially secure' as their emphasis is on Traditional Insurance product. At a later stage
the company can make its mission as 'Making money work for the people' when they also include the non-traditional
unit linked investment products.

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Strategic objective

A broadly defined objective that an organization must achieve to make its strategy succeed. Strategic objectives are,
in general, externally focused and fall into eight major classifications:
(1) Market standing: desired share of the present and new markets;
(2) Innovation: development of new goods and services, and of skills and methods required to supply
them;
(3) Human resources: selection and development of employees;
(4) Financial resources: identification of the sources of capital and their use;
(5) Physical resources: equipment and facilities and their use;
(6) Productivity: efficient use of the resources relative to the output;
(7) Social responsibility: awareness and responsiveness to the effects on the wider community of the
stakeholders;
(8) Profit requirements: achievement of measurable financial well-being and growth.

For-Profit Versus Nonprofit Strategic Planning

Major differences in how organizations carry out the various steps and associated activities in the strategic planning
process are more of a matter of the size of the organization -- than its for-profit/nonprofit status. Small nonprofits and
small for-profits tend to conduct somewhat similar planning activities that are different from those conducted in large
organizations. On the other hand, large nonprofits and large for-profits tend to conduct somewhat similar planning
activities that are different from those conducted in small organizations. (The focus of the planning activities is often
different between for-profits and nonprofits. Nonprofits tend to focus more on matters of board development,
fundraising and volunteer management. For-profits tend to focus more on activities to maximize profit.)

Therefore, the reader is encouraged to review a variety of the materials linked from this page, whether he or she is
from a nonprofit or for-profit organization. Items below are marked as "nonprofit" in case the reader still prefers to
focus on information presented in the context of nonprofit planning.

Benefits of Strategic Planning

Strategic planning serves a variety of purposes in organizations, including to:
1. Clearly define the purpose of the organization and to establish realistic goals and objectives consistent with
that mission in a defined time frame within the organization’s capacity for implementation.
2. Communicate those goals and objectives to the organization’s constituents.
3. Develop a sense of ownership of the plan.
4. Ensure the most effective use is made of the organization’s resources by focusing the resources on the key
priorities.
5. Provide a base from which progress can be measured and establish a mechanism for informed change when
needed.
6. Listen to everyone’s opinions in order to build consensus about where the organization is going.
Other reasons include that strategic planning:
7. Provides clearer focus for the organization, thereby producing more efficiency and effectiveness.
8. Bridges staff/employees and the board of directors (in the case of corporations).
9. Builds strong teams in the board and in the staff/employees (in the case of corporations).
10. Provides the glue that keeps the board members together (in the case of corporations).
11. Produces great satisfaction and meaning among planners, especially around a common vision.
12. Increases productivity from increased efficiency and effectiveness.

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 13. Solves major problems in the organization.

When Should Strategic Planning Be Done?

The scheduling for the strategic planning process depends on the nature and needs of the organization and the its
immediate external environment. For example, planning should be carried out frequently in an organization whose
products and services are in an industry that is changing rapidly. In this situation, planning might be carried out once
or even twice a year and done in a very comprehensive and detailed fashion (that is, with attention to mission, vision,
values, environmental scan, issues, goals, strategies, objectives, responsibilities, time lines, budgets, etc). On the other
hand, if the organization has been around for many years and is in a fairly stable marketplace, then planning might be
carried out once a year and only certain parts of the planning process, for example, action planning (objectives,
responsibilities, time lines, budgets, etc) is updated each year. Consider the following guidelines:
1. Strategic planning should be done when an organization is just getting started. (The strategic plan is usually
part of an overall business plan, along with a marketing plan, financial plan and operational/management
plan.)
2. Strategic planning should also be done in preparation for a new major venture, for example, developing a
new department, division, major new product or line of products, etc.
3. Strategic planning should also be conducted at least once a year in order to be ready for the coming fiscal
year (the financial management of an organization is usually based on a year-to-year, or fiscal year, basis).
In this case, strategic planning should be conducted in time to identify the organizational goals to be
achieved at least over the coming fiscal year, resources needed to achieve those goals, and funded needed to
obtain the resources. These funds are included in budget planning for the coming fiscal year. However, not
all phases of strategic planning need be fully completed each year. The full strategic planning process should
be conducted at least once every three years. As noted above, these activities should be conducted every year
if the organization is experiencing tremendous change.
4. Each year, action plans should be updated.
5. Note that, during implementation of the plan, the progress of the implementation should be reviewed at least
on a quarterly basis by the board. Again, the frequency of review depends on the extent of the rate of change
in and around the organization.

Operations Strategy/What is operations strategy?/Operations strategy

What is operations strategy?

Companies and organizations making products and delivering, be it for profit or not for profit rely on a handful of
processes to get their products manufactured properly and delivered on time. Each of the process acts as an operation
for the company. To the company this is essential. That is why managers find operations management more
appealing. We begin this section by looking at what operations actually are. Operations strategy is to provide an
overall direction that serves the framework for carrying out all the organization’s functions.

Understanding operations

Have you ever imagined a car without a gear or the steering wheel? Whilst, what remains of an utmost importance to
you is to drive the locomotive from one location to another for whatever purpose you wish, but can only be made
possible with each and every part of the car working together and attached.

Organizations behave in the same manner. The company has an ultimate goal of delivering goods to a client, but the
processes of designing, manufacturing, analyzing and then finally being delivered are the driving forces for the

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company's success. All these chunks of works processes that collectively define a bigger purpose, the operations for
that particular organization. The more effective these processes or operations would be, the more productive and
profitable the business would be.

Note: Goods, the ultimate by-product of a company, can be a product or a service. Take for instance, a car
manufacturing company. For it, all operations would lead to the development and enhancement of a car, a product,
something physical. But, to a therapist, the service he/she provides to their clients is the much needed result or
required output.

1- Corporate Strategy: - Environmental scanning. - Developing core competencies. - Developing core processes.
- Global strategies.
2- Market Analysis.
3- Operations Strategy: - Operations strategy implements corporate strategy.

A formal definition
According to Slack and Lewis, operations strategy holds the following definition:
“Operations strategy is the total pattern of decisions which shape the long-term capabilities of any type of operations
and their contribution to the overall strategy, through the reconciliation of market requirements with operations
resources.”

Operations strategy is the tool that helps to define the methods of producing goods or a service offered to the
customer.
Factors That Affect Planning in an Organization
Priorities
In most companies, the priority is generating revenue, and this priority can sometimes interfere with the planning
process of any project. For example, if you are in the process of planning a large expansion project and your largest
customer suddenly threatens to take their business to your competitor, then you might have to shelve the expansion
planning until the customer issue is resolved. When you start the planning process for any project, you need to assign
each of the issues facing the company a priority rating. That priority rating will determine what issues will sidetrack
you from the planning of your project, and which issues can wait until the process is complete.

Company Resources

Having an idea and developing a plan for your company can help your company to grow and succeed, but if the
company does not have the resources to make the plan come together, it can stall progress. One of the first steps to
any planning process should be an evaluation of the resources necessary to complete the project, compared to the
resources the company has available. Some of the resources to consider are finances, personnel, space requirements,
access to materials and vendor relationships.

Forecasting

A company constantly should be forecasting to help prepare for changes in the marketplace. Forecasting sales
revenues, materials costs, personnel costs and overhead costs can help a company plan for upcoming projects.
Without accurate forecasting, it can be difficult to tell if the plan has any chance of success, if the company has the
capabilities to pull off the plan and if the plan will help to strengthen the company's standing within the industry. For
example, if your forecasting for the cost of goods has changed due to a sudden increase in material costs, then that can

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affect elements of your product roll-out plan, including projected profit and the long-term commitment you might
need to make to a supplier to try to get the lowest price possible.

Contingency Planning

To successfully plan, an organization needs to have a contingency plan in place. If the company has decided to pursue
a new product line, there needs to be a part of the plan that addresses the possibility that the product line will fail. The
reallocation of company resources, the acceptable financial losses and the potential public relations problems that a
failed product can cause all need to be part of the organizational planning process from the beginning.

LO: 2
Investigate the current environment

What Is Business Environment?

Meaning: - The term Business Environment is composed of two words ‘Business’ and ‘Environment’. In simple
terms, the state in which a person remains busy is known as Business. The word Business in its economic sense means
human activities like production, extraction or purchase or sales of goods that are performed for earning profits.

On the other hand, the word ‘Environment’ refers to the aspects of surroundings. Therefore, Business Environment
may be defined as a set of conditions – Social, Legal, Economical, Political or Institutional that are uncontrollable in
nature and affects the functioning of organization. Business Environment has two components:

1. Internal Environment
2. External Environment

Internal Environment: It includes 5 Ms i.e. man, material, money, machinery and

management, usually within the control of business. Business can make changes in
these factors according to the change in the functioning of enterprise.
External Environment: Those factors which are beyond the control of business
enterprise are included in external environment. These factors are: Government and
Legal factors, Geo-Physical Factors, Political Factors, Socio-Cultural Factors, Demo-Graphical factors etc. It is of two
Types:
1. Micro/Operating Environment
2. Macro/General Environment
Micro/Operating Environment: The environment which is close to business and affects its capacity to work is
known as Micro or Operating Environment. It consists of Suppliers, Customers, Market Intermediaries, Competitors
and Public.
(1) Suppliers: – They are the persons who supply raw material and required components to the company. They must
be reliable and business must have multiple suppliers i.e. they should not depend upon only one supplier.
(2) Customers: - Customers are regarded as the king of the market. Success of every business depends upon the level
of their customer’s satisfaction. Types of Customers:
(i) Wholesalers
(ii) Retailers

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 (iii) Industries
(iv) Government and Other Institutions
(v) Foreigners
(3) Market Intermediaries: - They work as a link between business and final consumers. Types:-
(i) Middleman
(ii) Marketing Agencies
(iii) Financial Intermediaries
(iv) Physical Intermediaries
(4) Competitors: - Every move of the competitors affects the business. Business has to adjust itself according to the
strategies of the Competitors.
(5) Public: - Any group who has actual interest in business enterprise is termed as public e.g. media and local public.
They may be the users or non-users of the product.
Macro/General Environment: – It includes factors that create opportunities and threats to business units. Following
are the elements of Macro Environment:
(1) Economic Environment: - It is very complex and dynamic in nature that keeps on changing with the change in
policies or political situations. It has three elements:
(i) Economic Conditions of Public
(ii) Economic Policies of the country
(iii)Economic System
(iv) Other Economic Factors: – Infrastructural Facilities, Banking, Insurance companies, money markets, capital
markets etc.
(2) Non-Economic Environment: - Following are included in non-economic environment:-
(i) Political Environment: - It affects different business units extensively. Components:
(a) Political Belief of Government
(b) Political Strength of the Country
(c) Relation with other countries
(d) Defense and Military Policies
(e) Centre State Relationship in the Country
(f) Thinking Opposition Parties towards Business Unit
(ii) Socio-Cultural Environment: - Influence exercised by social and cultural factors, not within the control of
business, is known as Socio-Cultural Environment. These factors include: attitude of people to work, family system,
caste system, religion, education, marriage etc.

(iii) Technological Environment: - A systematic application of scientific knowledge to practical task is known as
technology. Every day there has been vast changes in products, services, lifestyles and living conditions, these
changes must be analyzed by every business unit and should adapt these changes.
(iv) Natural Environment: - It includes natural resources, weather, climatic conditions, port facilities, topographical
factors such as soil, sea, rivers, rainfall etc. Every business unit must look for these factors before choosing the
location for their business.
(v) Demographic Environment :- It is a study of perspective of population i.e. its size, standard of living, growth
rate, age-sex composition, family size, income level (upper level, middle level and lower level), education level etc.
Every business unit must see these features of population and recognize their various needs and produce accordingly.
(vi) International Environment: - It is particularly important for industries directly depending on import or exports.
The factors that affect the business are: Globalisation, Liberalisation, foreign business policies, cultural exchange.
Characteristics:-
1. Business environment is compound in nature.
2. Business environment is constantly changing process.
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 3. Business environment is different for different business units.
4. It has both long term and short term impact.
5. Unlimited influence of external environment factors.
6. It is very uncertain.
7. Inter-related components.
8. It includes both internal and external environment.

Strategic choice

Strategic choice is a systemic theory of strategy. This theory is built on a notion of interaction in which organizations
adapt to their environment in a self-regulating, negative-feedback (cybernetic) manner so as to achieve their goals.
The dynamics, or pattern of movement over time, are those of movement to states of stable equilibrium. Prediction is
not seen as problematic. The analysis is primarily at the macro level of the organization in which cause and effect are
related to each other in a linear manner. Micro-diversity receives little attention and interaction is assumed to be
uniform and harmonious.

Strategic Choice Approach

The Strategic Choice Approach is used in face to face workshops of a decision making group.
Strategic choice is viewed as an ongoing process in which the planned management of uncertainty plays a crucial role.
The Strategic Choice Approach:
1. Focuses on decisions to be made in a particular planning situation, whatever their timescale and whatever
their substance.
2. Highlights the subtle judgements involved in agreeing how to handle the uncertainties which surround the
decision to be addressed - whether these be technical, political or procedural.
3. The approach is an incremental one, rather than one which looks towards an end product of a comprehensive
strategy at some future point in time. This principle is expressed through a framework known as a
`commitment package'. In this, an explicit balance is agreed between decisions to be made now and those to
be left open until specified time horizons in the future.
4. The approach is interactive, in the sense that it is designed not for use by experts in a backroom setting, but as
a framework for communication and collaboration between people with different backgrounds and skills.
The Essential Framework.
There are three key elements of analysis which are used in structuring problems and working towards decisions
 The Decision Area
 The Comparison Area
 The Uncertainty Area - divides into three broad categories

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 o Uncertainties to do with the working environment
o Uncertainties to do with guiding values
o Uncertainties to do with related choices

There are four modes of strategic choice

 Shaping
 Designing
 Comparing
 Choosing
Software
The Strategic Choice Approach was originally developed using flip charts and wall space, however, a software
package called "Strategic Advisor" or "STRAD" for short was developed and released in February 1991. The
intention of this software package is to support individuals and small groups in the more informal use of the approach.
Strategy Implementation
The selected strategy is implemented by means of programs, budgets, and procedures. Implementation involves
organization of the firm's resources and motivation of the staff to achieve objectives.
The way in which the strategy is implemented can have a significant impact on whether it will be successful. In a
large company, those who implement the strategy likely will be different people from those who formulated it. For
this reason, care must be taken to communicate the strategy and the reasoning behind it. Otherwise, the
implementation might not succeed if the strategy is misunderstood or if lower-level managers resist its
implementation because they do not understand why the particular strategy was selected.
The Implementation Process of Strategic Plans

A strategic plan is of little use to an organization without a means of putting it into place. In fact, implementation is an
essential part of the strategic planning process, and organizations that develop strategic plans must expect to include a
process for applying the plan. The specific implementation process can vary from organization to organization,
dependent largely on the details of the actual strategic plan, but some basic steps can assist in the process and ensure
that implementation is successful and the strategic plan is effective.

Step 1
Evaluate the strategic plan. The first step in the implementation process is to step back and make sure that you know
what the strategic plan is. Review it carefully, and highlight any elements of the plan that might be especially
challenging. Recognize any parts of the plan that might be unrealistic or excessive in cost, either of time or money.
Highlight these, and be sure to keep them in mind as you begin implementing the strategic plan. Keep back-up ideas
in mind in case the original plan fails.

Step 2
Create a vision for implementing the strategic plan. This vision might be a series of goals to be reached, step by step,
or an outline of items that need to be completed. Be sure to let everyone know what the end result should be and why
it is important. Establish a clear image of what the strategic plan is intended to accomplish.

Step 3

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Select team members to help you implement the strategic plan. Make sure you have a team that “has your back,” so to
speak, and understands the purpose of the plan and the steps involved in implementing it. Establish a team leader, if
other than yourself, who can encourage the team and field questions or address problems as they arise.

Step 4
Schedule meetings to discuss progress reports. Present the list of goals or objectives, and let the strategic planning
team know what has been accomplished. Whether the implementation is on schedule, ahead of schedule, or behind
schedule, assess the current schedule regularly to discuss any changes that need to be made. Establish a rewards
system that recognizes success throughout the process of implementation.

Step 5
Involve the upper management where appropriate. Keep the organization’s executives informed on what is happening,
and provide progress reports on the implementation of the plan. Letting an organization’s management know about
the progress of implementation makes them a part of the process, and, should problems arise, the management will be
better able to address concerns or potential changes.
Evaluation & Control
The implementation of the strategy must be monitored and adjustments made as needed.
Evaluation and control consists of the following steps:
1. Define parameters to be measured
2. Define target values for those parameters
3. Perform measurements
4. Compare measured results to the pre-defined standard
5. Make necessary changes

Communicate with Your Stakeholders

Stakeholder is a person, group or organization that has interest or concern in an organization.
Stakeholders
Stakeholders can affect or be affected by the organization's actions, objectives and policies. Some examples of key
stakeholders are creditors, directors, employees, government (and its agencies), owners (shareholders), suppliers,
unions, and the community from which the business draws its resources.
Not all stakeholders are equal. A company's customers are entitled to fair trading practices but they are not entitled to
the same consideration as the company's employees.
An example of a negative impact on stakeholders is when a company needs to cut costs and plans a round of layoffs.
This negatively affects the community of workers in the area and therefore the local economy. Someone owning
shares in an business such as Microsoft is positively affected, for example, when the company releases a new device
and sees their profit and therefore stock price rise.

7 Ways to Communicate with Your Stakeholders

The most important element in stakeholder communications is identifying the target audience. Be deliberate and seek
out input from all known groups to find the unknown groups. It can be tough when too late in the project a critical
person or group is identified that has not received any of the communication through course of project and has
valuable links that need to be addressed. So make sure you avoid this scenario and take all the steps early to create a
document with all stakeholders you need to manage communication with. Once you have that the ways below can
help you keep communication active, frequent and ongoing collaboration so there is strong support for you project.
Formal Methods for Communicating– If they don’t exist already, create them. Make occasions when info should be
presented.

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 1. Meetings – One of the most common ways to communicate. They can vary from only 1 person to thousands
based on message and audience appropriate. It is up to you to maximize every minute of the time spent to
have dialogue. Make sure it is a dialogue and not a monologue. It is the best way as you have the verbal and
non verbal cues that enhance the communication and avoid misinterpretation.
2. Conference Calls– These days this is the most common as it does not require the time and expense of travel.
The dialogue can take place though its dependant on voice intonation and clarity of the verbal message. They
only require cost of phone call and there are many paid and free services that will facilitate use of a
conference call line for many people to dial into. Its also a common way for classes to be recorded and
replayed when its convenient for you.
3. Newsletters/ Email/ Posters – This strategy is one way communication and utilizes emailed updates, hard
copy brochures, posters, newsletters mailed or emailed. One of the weaknesses is that messages are delivered
and you cannot guage if they were read and understood, deleted as sometimes there is no feedback. That
immediate feedback is valuable for strengthening your message and making sure impacts and feedback are
quickly received.
4. Informal Methods – It is important to not only rely on formal channels but to utilize informal
communication as well. The impromptu channels are often more information rich and critical for relationship
building.
5. Hallway Conversations, Bathroom conversations – These meetings are great for one on one
communication, but also be clear and do not establish false expectations with casual comments dropped.
6. Lunch Meetings, Drink at the bar after work – These casual environments can be great for connecting,
getting feedback, ideas, and work to build support
7. Sporting events – tennis, golf, etc are an easy forum to get the input on what support exists, feedback on
ideas, brainstorming to strengthen your communication and build stakeholder support
8. Voice mail – this is often underutilized since email is so common but still shown to be more often listened to
than an email will be read. By using voice intonation for excitement, urgency, etc it can be more compelling.
This can be a solo voice mail, a voice mail broadcast to large team or you could pursue use of automated
calling to get the word out depending on the size of audience
Project Communication Plans

It’s not enough to just have a plan. It is critical to seek to understand what your stakeholders desire both spoken and
unspoken. The expectations must be carefully managed from beginning to end. Every team and project varies in its
rate of change, so pick the most advantageous communication channel, frequency and make sure its effective. Just as
having the plan is important, monitoring its effectiveness, adding and canceling supplemental ways of communicating
will be required.

Communication is a constant, error on the side of over communicating as there are always people that didn’t hear,
understand or make connection when they heard it the first time.

Self-Check 1

Give short answer for the following questions

1. Explain the strategic planning models
2. Write the strategic plan process
Write at least five benefits of strategic plan

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