Strategic Planning Overview

Strategic Planning

• Two main types:
  • Medium/Long-range plan: covers 3-5, 10 or more years. Focuses on major external factors impacting the organization's long-term objectives, strategies, and resource needs.
  • Annual/Yearly plan: Short-term, covering the upcoming year. Outlines the organization's current situation, goals, objectives, strategies, monitoring methods, and budget.
• Strategic planning steps: iterative, cyclical, and integrative.
  • Situation Audit: Assessing the organization's current position.
  • Goal and Objective Setting: Defining the organization's desired future state, including values, mission, and strategy.
  • Strategy Development: Identifying strategies to achieve the desired objectives.
  • Strategy Selection: Choosing the most effective strategy for achieving goals.
  • Strategy Implementation Monitoring: Measuring performance against strategy execution.
  • Continuous Reassessment: Implementing improvements and changes based on performance feedback.

Environmental Scanning

• The process of assessing both external and internal forces impacting an organization.
• External environment encompasses social, economic, political, technological, and environmental factors that can influence an organization.
• Competitive environment includes competitors, suppliers, customers, stakeholders, culture, and government.
• Environmental scanning involves monitoring the surroundings to identify early indicators of opportunities and challenges.
• Two approaches:
  • Informal scanning: Leverages experience and expertise for effortless assessment.
  • Formal scanning: Requires in-depth, precise data collection and analysis, demanding speed, information availability, and financial resources.

Strategic Information

• Consists of facts and data used to help achieve organizational vision, mission, and goals.
• Sourced from both internal and external environments.
• Classified as primary (gathered through personal experience, observation, or experimentation) or secondary (collected from reports, internet sources, and published materials).

Modes of Environmental Scanning

• Two processes:
  • Information viewing: Simply observing data.
  • Information searching: Actively seeking specific data.
• Technological advancements have made data collection and analysis more efficient and accessible. Examples include:
  • Product innovation: Easier to create.
  • Product development: Faster and less complex.
  • Enterprise resource planning (ERP): Widely used in supply chain activities (purchasing, inventory management, scheduling, logistics, and financial management).
  • E-banking: Facilitates online banking transactions.
  • E-learning: Enables online education and distance learning.
  • Digital medicine: Utilizes technology in medical research and treatments (e.g., stem cell research, robotic surgery).
  • E-security: Utilizes technology for security applications (e.g., military intelligence, surveillance, and counterterrorism).

Environmental Forces

• Emphasize the need for environmental responsibility and sustainable practices.
• Key issues:
  • Climate Change: Global warming resulting from the use of non-biodegradable materials, leading to extreme weather events.
  • Environmental Waste Management: Concerns about air, water, and noise pollution, as well as waste disposal, contributing to health issues.
  • Preservation of Rainforests and Marine Life: Protecting these ecosystems from depletion and degradation.

Supply Chain Management

• Addresses the entire business process from raw material sourcing to product delivery to end users or consumers.
• Focuses on value creation throughout the chain.
• Key activities:
  • Supply management: Sourcing, ordering, and managing inventory of raw materials, parts, and services.
  • Production and operations: Manufacturing and assembly.
  • Logistics: Warehousing, inventory tracking, order management, distribution, and delivery.
  • Marketing and sales: Promoting and selling products and services.

Supply Management

• Modern term used for purchasing or procurement.
• Key responsibilities:
  • Identifying material and service needs.
  • Locating and selecting suppliers.
  • Negotiation and contract management.
  • Acquiring necessary materials, services, and equipment.
  • Monitoring inventory levels.
  • Tracking supplier performance.