Text 2: the concept of strategic management

Most well-run organizations attempt to develop and follow strategies, large-scale action plans for interacting with the environ­ment in order to achieve long-term goals. A comprehensive statement of an organization's strategies, along with its mission and goals, con­stitutes an organization's strategic plan. To learn where such strategies originate and how they are put into action, we need to examine care­fully an aspect of the planning function called strategic management. Strategic management is a process through which managers formu­late and implement strategies geared to optimizing strategic goal achievement, given avairable environmental and internal conditions. This definitions recognizes that strategic management is oriented to­ward reaching long-term goals, weighs important environmental ele­ments, considers major internal characteristics of the organization, and involves developing specific strategies.

The Strategic Management Process

The strategic management process is made up of several major components. The process begins with identifying the organization's mission and strategic goals. The process also includes analyzing the competitive situation, taking into consideration both the external envi­ronment and relevant organizational factors. Once the situation has been carefully analyzed, managers can begin to develop, or formulate, vari­ous strategies that can be used to reach strategic goals. The part of the strategic management process that includes identifying the mission and strategic goals, conduction competitive analysis, and developing spe­cific strategies is often referred to as strategy formulation. In contrast, the part of the strategic management process that focuses on carrying out strategic plans and maintaining control over how those plans are carried out is known as strategy implementation. Strategy implemen­tation is increasingly highlighted as a distinct part of the strategic man­agement process because even the most brilliantly formulated strategic must be implemented effectively in order to reach strategic goals.

Importance of Strategic Management

Strategic management is important to organizations for several reasons. For one thing, the process helps organizations identify and develop a competitive advantage, which is a significant edge over the competition in dealing with competitive forces. For example, Dis­ney has been able to gain a competitive advantage in the family enter­tainment industry by creating amusement parks, movies, and products based on the renowned Disney characters.

Another reason for the importance of strategic management is that it provides a sense of direction so that organization members know where to expend their efforts. Without a strategic plan, manag­ers throughout the organization may concentrate on day-to-day activi­ties only to find that a competitor has maneuvered itself into a favor­able competitive position by taking a more comprehensive, long-term view of strategic directions. For example, the Rayovac Corporation, a battery and flashlight maker based in Madison, Wisconsin, had fallen behind competitors in the early 1980s because of its aging product line, outdated packaging, and slowness in entering the market for alka­line batteries (which became the industry standard). Since that time, a new chairman and vice-chairman, the husband-and-wife team of Thomas and Judith Pyle, have rejuvenated the company partially through a variety of innovative new products.

Yet another reason for the importance of strategic management is that it can help highlight the need for innovation and provide an organized approach for encouraging new ideas related to strategies. For instance, Disney has a special procedure for handling major innovations, whereby new ideas and accompanying financial considerations are forwarded to the strategic planning group, which evaluates them for compatibility with the firm's overall strategy. In addition, the process can be used to involve managers at various levels in planning, thus making it more likely that the managers will understand the resulting plans and be committed to their implementa­tion.