Strategic Management Process

Strategic Management Process

Paul Stuart

MGT 498

April 10, 2012

Dr. Judy R. Thimakis

Strategic Management Process

There are many ideas on how to best manage business. Over time there have been processes that have evolved that have proven to be consistently effective. This method has come to be known as the strategic management process. There are some basic steps to this process that rarely, if ever change. When followed and implemented correctly this process has proven to be very successful for businesses.

Basic Steps

The basic steps of the strategic management process called by different names they are the same in principle. These basic steps are referred to by Wheelen and Hunger (2010) as “…environmental scanning (both external and internal), strategy formulation (strategic or long-range planning), strategy implementation, and evaluation and control” (p. 5).

The environmental scanning, or as referred to by some as situation analysis, is the process of taking note of the internal and external influences on the working of the company. For example some internal influences would be that of the relations between employees, management, and shareholders. Examples of external influences would be customers, suppliers, lenders, and the competition.

The strategy formulation step is where the plan is laid out for which direction the company should take. “Strategy formulation involves designing and developing the company strategies. Determining company strengths aids in the formulation of strategies. Strategy formulation is generally broken down into three organizational levels: operational, competitive, and corporate” (Bushman, 2012).

Strategy implementation is putting the plan into practice. Along with practice it is planning how and when the plan is to be put into effect. This is usually decided by which of the plans are considered to be the most important or most critical.

During the strategy evaluation step the organization would analyze the strategy...