What is Strategic Management?

By definition, a strategy can be delineated as any implementation made by an organization in order to achieve one or more of its goals and objectives (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). Therefore, it is factual that a strategy can be regarded as large scale and a future-oriented planning that involves cooperation with the competitive environment in the process of achieving the planned goals and objectives.  Thus, strategic management is therefore delineated as a set of plans that encompass actions and decisions by an organization regarding implementation of policies that will yield to achievement of organizational goals and objectives (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). Strategic management encompasses identification and description of plans that managers ought to pursue in order to guarantee effective performance and yield to increased competitive advantage for the company. It is noteworthy that strategic management demands for future-oriented, complex and long-term decision making that requires participation of the management with the considerable resources. Furthermore, strategic management can be regarded as a three-tier process that concerns three levels of management which include corporate, business and functional levels (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). Corporate level of management concerns the strategies adopted by the executives at the top level of the organization which affect the general performance of the general company. Corporate strategic management activities include financial performance, acquisitions, mergers and human resource management practices. On the other hand, business level management includes strategies adopted by different departments in an organization for the welfare of the specific department. Lastly, functional level management includes plans adopted against the employees which might include subsidies and incentives intended to motivate the staff (Pearce & Robinson, 2013).   

For effective strategic management, the company should define its vision, mission, purpose and goals. The vision of the organization should cover the picture of the business for a period of not less than three years time with regard to size, appearance and customer base served by the company (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). The mission of the company should include what the company anticipates to achieve within a long-term period and should act as a direction and purpose served by the organization. Therefore, organizational goals should be set with reference to vision and mission of the company in a specified period of time (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). It is worthwhile to state that the goal must be time specific, challenging and realistic for the company to achieve.

Strategic management involves planning which ought to be future oriented in order to be more effective. Therefore, there are several benefits associated with having a future oriented plan in the business. These benefits include the following;

• It enables employees to focus on the key activities highlighted in the mission and vision of the organization
• Helps in managing the daily performance of the business
• Helps in management of exposure to external conditions such as competition
• The company is able to manage vulnerabilities which include economic and technological problems
• Promotes effective management of the cash flow

            Generally, the strategic process acts as an input for future decision making in the achievement of the organizational goals and objectives (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). This is based on the ground that strategic process acts as a basis of mission and vision of the company. Therefore, the effectiveness of the organizational performance is determined by the strategic plans made towards achieving the goals set. Therefore, making strategic plans for achieving future goals and objectives makes strategic plans an input for future decision making in guaranteeing future achievement of the organizational goals.

Reference  

 Pearce, J. A., & Robinson, R. B. (2013). Strategic management: Planning for domestic & global competition. (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.