Running head: STRATEGIC PLANNING 1
Strategic Planning
Dirk Muncy
Liberty University
Running head: STRATEGIC PLANNING 2
Abstract
Strategic planning is a wide concept in business. It is simply identified as an approach an
organization utilizes in defining its strategies, and establishing approaches to making decisions.
In this paper, an examination on the whole concept is assessed especially by identifying strategic
planning as a communicative method in an organization. Different aspects that form the basic
ideas of the concept are ascertained, while assessing on multiple actors that facilitate the
engagement of strategic planning in an organization. The paper begins with the definition of the
whole concept with the fundamental distinction of its importance to the organization. The
processes of a strategic plan are assessed, with emphasis on the preliminary steps that
incorporate the execution of the process. Further, the methods that establish every process of
strategic planning are identified and described. The paper summarizes the concept by informing
on the significance of strategic planning on other forms of planning.
Running head: STRATEGIC PLANNING 3
Strategic Planning
Definition of Strategic Planning
Strategic planning refers to the process conducted by an organization to define its
direction or strategy and to decide on the best way to allocate the available resources in an
attempt to meet these decisions. An organization can still expand on its control mechanisms to
guide the processes of strategy implementation (Gates, 2013). This concept became prominent in
organizations during the early 1960s. So far, it remains a vital aspect of firms’ strategic
management. Strategic planning is performed by strategists or planners in the organization. This
group of planners comprises of many research resources and parties who facilitate the analysis of
the organization and the relationship it has to the environment where it competes (Bryson, 2011).
The term strategy has various definitions; however, it generally consists of setting goals,
ascertaining the appropriate actions that could help achieve the desired goals, and mobilizing the
available resources to help deliver on the selected actions. The strategy defines the best way a
certain action can be delivered through the available means or resources. In this case, the role of
the senior managers in the organization is to determine the strategy (Gates, 2013). This involves
either making a plan or approaching it an observable level based on the emergent issues in the
organization as it attempts to remain relevant in a competitive market. Aspects that form the
basic components of a strategy include the formulation and the implementation processes, as
such, through strategic planning; both of these processes are adequately coordinated. Otherwise,
strategic planning is naturally analytical, and the formation of the strategy itself is characterized
by synthesizing ideas through the strategic thing. Therefore, achieving strategic planning
surrounds the formation of strategic activities.
Processes of Strategic Planning
Running head: STRATEGIC PLANNING 4
Overview
Since strategic planning is a process, it hence comprises of inputs, appropriate actions,
outputs and relevant outcomes. However, similar to any other process, strategic planning has
constraints. This can be informal or formal but interactive, characterized by response loops
across the whole process (Gates, 2013). Some facets of this process can be continuous while
others can simply be executed via discrete projects defined by a start and an end within a certain
period. In this way, strategic planning offers inputs for facilitating strategic thinking that helps
guide the real formation of the strategy (Bryson, 2011; King Khalid Foundation, 2012). The
outcome is the strategy organization, comprising of a diagnosis of the surrounding and the
situation of competition (Andrew et al., 2013). This includes the formulation of a policy that
