The Stages Involved in a Corporate Level Strategic Planning Process
Strategic planning is vital to a corporation. A strategic plan allows a business to have a clear direction in mind, to plan and to avoid being simply reactionary. Examples of a corporate strategy are: becoming a cost leader, developing proprietary technologies or focusing on customer satisfaction. The goal of all corporate strategies is to find a sustainable competitive advantage over other firms in the marketplace. The strategic planning process develops and implements a corporate strategy. Often this is thought of as a difficult process, but researchers at Penn State University–Berks developed a simple, three-stage process for corporate strategic planning that a company can complete in less than a day.
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Fix Your Sights
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This stage begins with brainstorming, where a group of people come up with ideas for potential corporate vision statements. An example of a corporate vision statement might be to become the preferred paper products supplier of medium-sized businesses in the tri-state area. The group assesses each of the various vision statements using a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis examines internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. When the firm selects a corporate vision statement, it leads to a set of criteria for projects. All future projects should support the corporate vision statement.
Chart the Course
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Develop a final strategic plan. This plan should be implementable and include a vision statement, a mission statement, and strategic objectives. To develop the plan, continue to brainstorm and to synthesize ideas until you arrive at practical and implementable goals. Determine action items. This is a set of real actions that can help achieve strategic goals. Develop a set of project evaluation criteria. Project evaluation criteria will allow you to determine if a project fits within the corporate strategy and if it should be undertaken.
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Check Your Bearings
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Ensure that the strategic plan stays on track. Monitor the plan regularly. Evaluate the success of the plan with regular reports. Create an advisory panel that can assess progress. If the plan is not being followed, make recommendations for how the firm can get back on track. You should also evaluate the strategy itself, based on changes to the marketplace. If necessary, make changes to the strategy itself.
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References
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