Strategic Management

Strategic Management Process

MGT 498

August 26, 2013

Strategic Management Process

The discipline of strategic management is a fairly new one, having originated in the 1960’s. It is interesting to note that while there were many early contributors to the strategic management process, the roots of the discipline can be found hundreds of years in the past. Much of the work that went into the development of strategic management draws from accounts on strategy, such as Sun Tzu’s work Art of War. The general idea that began to evolve into strategic management was the importance of creating a corporate vision that incorporated a strategy that encompassed the entire company.

Strategic management is “a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation,” (Wheelen & Hunger, 2009) and includes four distinct phases with several integrated steps within the phases. The first phase is environmental scanning, which is used to gather information from both external and internal sources. Environmental scanning will usually incorporate a SWOT analysis, looking externally for opportunities and threats while looking internally for strengths and weaknesses. External scanning includes gathering information on the natural environment, the societal environment, and the task environment. Internal scanning includes gathering information on the structure of the organization, the culture of the organization, and the resources of the organization. The next phase is strategy formulation, or developing a long-range plan. This involves covering the mission of the organization, deciding the objectives of the organization, any strategies that can be used to achieve the mission and the objectives, and a look at policies that will act as guidelines for decision making. The next phase is strategy implementation, putting the strategy into action. This will create programs, activities that are necessary to the success of the plan, budgets that must...