Understanding of Strategic Planning In Effective Business Essay

Understanding of Strategic Planning In Effective Business - Essay Example For the success of any business organisation, it is vital to have a proper and complete strategic plan defining the decisions, allocation of capital, resources and manpower required for the decision making and proper functioning of all of its departmental areas. Depending on the types of business, methodologies have to be accordingly adopted which may include divisions and sub-divisions within an organisation like research and development, manufacturing, procurement, marketing etc. with organisation and support services by the management, marketing, clerical, information technology, stores and despatch, accounts, personnel and time-keeping and workshop and other required infrastructure along with their relevant staff. Background to Strategic Planning Usually based and depending upon the feasibility of each individual business set-up, strategic planning differs in their approaches. The most typical amongst these approaches is the three stages: â€Å"Situation† evaluation of current state and future state scenarios, â€Å"Target† defining of the detailed goals and objections, and lastly the â€Å"Path† indicating the route for attaining the targeted goals and objectives. Another popular approach is the â€Å"Draw† stage in which the image and targeted end goal and objective are visualised, then comes the â€Å"See† stage where comparisons are made between the likely positive and negative extreme that could be encountered in any given situations, and finally the â€Å"Plan† stage where all the required resources are considered for the activation of a business. In general, and as a standard practice being utilised by a number or newly setting up businesses, proper strategic planning for business should be consistent of the following points: A clear VISION setting the businesses mission statement Detailed ANALYSIS of the approach towards the desired end goals and objectives A FORMULA defining the line of actions to reach the desired end goals and objectives A proper and workable IMPLEMENTATION plan according to the agreed upon line of actions Proper CONTROL to ensure and monitor that the correct implementation process is working according to the laid-down plans Assertions For the success of any strategic planning in a business, input of internal and external analysis are necessary to be considered during the development of strategies to identify opportunities, threats, including the possible changing of unforeseen environmental situations which would effect trade and commerce relationships with customers and its likely impact on a business. An analytical consideration of the existing competition and the likely possible future competition has also to be taken into account to ensure that a business could continue to exist and flourish even under the most severely challenging market conditions prevailing at any given period of time. Arguments It is a universally accepted practice to have a strategic plan defining goals, objectives and targets to achieve positive end goals and objectives through a definitive roadmap. Accordingly policies, tactics based on legally correct rules and regulations and actions with clarity are implemented. The correct stepping stones towards eventual success should start with the sequencing of goals from short term to medium term to long term, thus creating a climbable stairway to the future. A mission statement therefore, is necessary as a vital tool in the strategic plan because without a time-frame it visualises the identity of a business, what it represents and where its stands in the future. Counter Argument Realistically the main reasons for the failure of strategic plans can be based on its being incorrect or inappropriate and/or its poor implementation. The reasoning behind incorrect or inappropriate strategy planning can be one or in combination with each