Essay Sample on Strategic Management

Strategic Planning and Strategic Management

According to Wolf & Floyd (2017), strategic management is about formulating, establishing and implementing not only the primary goals of an organization's top management but also programs undertaken on the owners' behalf. Resource considerations, as well as detailed evaluation of the firm's external and internal environments in which the business entity operates, are the dependent variables regarding strategic management decisions. This paper aims to describe and interpret the critical elements of strategic management, provide a quick view of the internal and internal analysis as well as define the duties of the strategic manager. The paper also presents a concise conclusion following a brief summary of the organizations in business requires strategic planning management.

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Basic Elements of the Strategic Management Process

Four main elements make up the strategic management process (Morden, 2016). A critical analysis of the competitive position of an organization is the first element. This initial phase requires the managers to assess not only the internal but also external concerns influencing the business performance and offer its position over competitors (Balogun, Bartunek & Do, 2015).

Strategy formulation is the second in line in the process. The strategy will help the firm attain its objectives given information of its competitive position (Morden, 2016). Strategy development is third, and it involves making decisions on individual activities that managers will perform to bring out the expected successful performance. Finally, the model entails strategic implementation. The element looks at ensuring efficient implementation of the various strategies adopted in prior stages.

External and Internal Analysis

The success of any firm depends heavily on internal and external analyses. In analyzing a firm's internal and external environments, the SWOT model is commonly used (Balogun et al., 2015). Internal analysis entails checking for the organization's strengths and weaknesses, which are usually internal factors and are within the control of the corporation. In this scenario, firms can make its people especially workers and loyal clients mobile, provide sustainable training, transform the manner in which the entity employs various resources as well as perform activities differently to enhance the capacity of the organization to achieve its set targets.

On the other hand, the external factors include corporate opportunities and threats, which are out of the firm's scope of control. Despite their uncontrollability, these factors have a great effect on the internal concerns of any firm. For example, a competitor can leverage on a threat occurring in the firm (Morden, 2016). An ideal example is the influence of the current economy affecting a firm and forcing it to lay off some of its people. A competitor company will take this opportunity to hire the experienced workers that lost jobs.

Duties and Responsibilities of the Strategic Manager

A strategic manager carries the mandate in a firm to perform various duties and assume certain responsibilities in a firm (Wolf & Floyd, 2017). The first duty is to take part in the development of long-term corporate strategy at the strategic and operational level. Importantly, this type of development depends on competitive developments, relevant market projections and the long-term target market trends concerned. A strategic manager should make contributions to the planning phases of the corporation besides helping the entity translate plans into specific corporate moves and structured activities.

The manager also plays an advisory role in the corporation (Balogun et al., 2015). The position holder bears the responsibility of giving relevant advice to the top executives of the entity on various strategic concerns. The manager must anticipate not only the opportunities but also the challenges that arise concerning legal, professional, technological, market transitions and translate them into logical plans of action.

Why Business Entities Require Strategic Management Panning

A corporate strategic plan has been defined as an official roadmap employed to describe how business entity executives attain their desired strategy (Wolf & Floyd, 2017). The plan outlines where the firm is targeting to be the next period and sets out the strategies the firm will employ to arrive there. The program assists a corporate in achieving better performance. The case arises from the model's capacity to direct resources, time and energy that employees in the firm contribute to the achievement of a specific purpose.

Strategic planning is the initial step for corporate directors who wish to attain the expected substantial growth. Planning assists in building the firm's competitive edge over its opponents (Balogun et al., 2015). It is also helpful in prioritizing the organization's financial needs effectively as well as passing communication and interpretation of the corporate strategy to the employees. Strategic planning also brings into consensus all the organization's stakeholders and directs their focus similarly towards working to achieve common objectives.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Strategic management is numbered among the essential roles that organizational managers need to perform to secure the success of their firm (Wolf & Floyd, 2017). Managerial staffs have the mandate to employ the principle of strategic management to guarantee that the firm achieves not only its present and future goals but also attain sustainable operational perfection.

References

Balogun, J., Bartunek, J. M., & Do, B. (2015). Senior managers' sensemaking and responses to strategic change. Organization Science, 26(4), 960-979. doi: 10.1287/orsc.2015.0985Morden, T. (2016). Principles of strategic management. Routledge.doi: 10.4324/9781315602172

Wolf, C., & Floyd, S. W. (2017). Strategic planning research: Toward a theory-driven agenda. Journal of Management, 43(6), 1754-1788. doi: 10.1177/0149206313478185