Custom «Strategic Planning» Essay Paper Sample

When an institution is formed it has a certain reason and its essence must be well grasped. This is strategic planning purpose for organizing the future by maximization of the outcome with what is available. Through a strategic plan a company in a quest to meet targets has the capability to achieve, but has the following as prerequisites a factual, accountable, dynamic and result oriented disciplined approach. Environmental analysis is that which defines vital organizational issues and pinpoints those internal and external parameters of the environment that it functions with.

By identifying key economic, political, social, and technological trends and correlating identified opportunities with strengths and identified threats with weaknesses, strategies for the future of the association can now be developed. An effective strategic plan cannot be built by the management if it does not know where the association has been or where it is going. This is the time to develop the actual strategic plan and the Subsequent steps to take are;

Leaders strive towards realizing their vision with a sense of accomplishment and with in mind what they are working for progress. A thought of what an organization will look like in some years to come definitely as a result in success is a vision statement. The institutional make up and representation is explained by a mission statement. It gives a precise explanation of what a association is all about in less than twenty words. Goal setting a derivative of the mission statement sets what will transpire in an organization in some years to come. Prioritization of objectives must be arrived at through a consensus. An objective is what is set to be achieved under each goal during the set timeframe. All this comes as a result of objective setting. Identification of tactics and strategies which explore how to accomplish objectives set under goal.A handful of plans which are composed of responsibility assignments, budget allocations and timelines are known as action plans. Tactics and strategies at times leave behind action plans that are implemented by the board at a precise time frame.

There are external and internal parameters of environmental analysis which an institution drives thus giving a wider view that is appropriate to well inform decisions by the management. There are two phases external and internal respectively.

In the external phase the places to look into are; The Economic part puts in question whether an economic recession is probable, if possible will the institutions be able to survive it? The Political part is how the election of a liberal or conservative public official will affect the institution for example this should not necessary in IT because the company on its part is not conducting anything illegal thus safeguarding of any rights or anything equivalent whatsoever. The Social part is the adaptability to new trends for instance how elder and child care amongst other causes could affect the firm and in this case as an example an IT firm can't be affected because it services cut across all generations. The Technological part puts into question whether any new technological advancement spell a new dawn or demise of the industry and how can the organization manage such a change. In this situation for an IT firm it is irrelevant to use this because both firms provide the same services so they should re-engineer themselves.

In the internal phase the places to look into are; the strengths in which positive trends and issues are put into consideration for example in IT the organizations assets or core competencies like quality customer care can be used to increase customer base. The economy or technological advancements can be spelt as a weakness to an IT institution for example in the event of a great breakthrough in IT this in strategic planning can't be applicable because the invention can be reversed instead maximizing on the strengths is more viable in this case. In the case of opportunities an organization can use it for its betterment like if a government policy is passé in support of its vision as an organization.

For example there is understaffing in an IT company or a deficiency identified in the budgetary allocation this spells a threat in the view that there is decline in some industry and professional areas. This calls for a strategic plan with those threats in consideration and if addressed then success is highly inevitable. Then in competitive analysis a question like what are rival companies strengths, market strategies and weaknesses? And how can they be capitalized. For instance In IT if a rival company has a weakness in marketing in your strategic plan on how you can capitalize and popularize your brand more and in the eventuality successfully establishing your brand which spells an advantage.