This paper is a reflection on three simulations as they relate to strategic planning. The first simulation, “Thinking Strategically”, highlights the importance of environmental scanning. The second simulation, “Developing Grand Strategies”, challenged decisions made which lead to effective strategy formulation and choices. The third simulation, “Creating a Strategic Road Map”, provided a simulated experience of how to build a strategic roadmap and the importance and effectiveness of formulating action plans and goals. This reflective approach will convey the lessons learned relative to the importance and effectiveness of the key learning points obtained through each simulation. The concepts and analytical tools that will be used in the Celestica’s strategic plan will be included. The challenges faced by strategic planners will be discussed from the discoveries in the simulations. The environmental scanning provides the opportunity for advanced insight and provides early warnings for external conditions facing corporations. As shown in the simulation, “Thinking Strategically”, environmental scanning also allows the opportunity for a company to promote vision and direction for all stakeholders. The information gathered as a result of environmental scanning, also provides the company with future trends data and can warn company officials of the declining of trends on the horizon. The simulation also displayed the SWOT analysis as an effective tool of relative importance and effectiveness within environmental scanning. An analysis of strengths and weaknesses is obtained through internal sources, whereas, opportunities and threats information is obtained externally. In identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats all these factors are critical for the strategy. Analyses of each including a matched pair analysis are essential in determining the future prospects of one’s industry and developing a specific industry niche. In the simulation, the bike company built a business on baby boomers and had a brand image of male extreme bikers. However, women comprise almost half of the biking industry. BJ’s identify key strategy concepts by the use of the SWOT analysis to achieve the long-term vision of becoming the No. 1 specialty bicycle retailer in terms of revenue in the next five years. The approach to increase marketing efforts towards women, including hiring female consultants, seemed the most logical in a global environment where women’s sports and athleticism is gaining in popularity. Scanning one’s environment creates a clearer global portrait and impacts all decisions necessary for optimal business outcomes. Throughout the simulation, the major lessons learned was the value of utilizing various sources of information and implications that such can have on final outcomes of strategic planning.
The book “Wargaming for Leaders” teaches, we as current or future leaders the art of simulation which can play a vital role in developing a strategy for success. Without a thorough plan and a means to test this plan, the individual leader has only presumptions and theory to guide his decision. With the use of simulation, the organization can test differing strategies and they can reduce the chance of a bad outcome.
Background Information In implementing a strategic plan for Coastal Medical Center, our consulting team has conducted many analyses and formed numerous strategies in order for Coastal Medical Center to be successful. Such assessments include an internal analysis, external analysis, gap analysis, and SWOT analysis. In conducting these analyses, our consulting team was able to better understand the internal environment, external environment, where the organization currently stands in terms of performance, and the major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that oppose the Coastal Medical Center. From our inquiry, we will be able to establish a strategic plan that best fits the organization’s needs.
Henrico Court Appointed Special Advocates (“CASA”) was organized in 1994, as a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation committed to advocating for the best interests of abused and neglected children in Henrico County, Virginia. The program has grown from 10 volunteers serving 26 children in its first year and now serves well over 300 children every year. CASA recruits, screens, trains, and supervises volunteers dedicated to championing the needs of children involved in Henrico County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court proceedings involving abuse or neglect, juvenile dependency, and CHINS (child in need of services or supervision). CASA promotes safe, permanent homes for all children, educates the community concerning the needs of abused and neglected children, and collaborates with other child-serving agencies on behalf of abused, at-risk, and truant children in the local area. Children with a CASA volunteer are more likely to be adopted, half as likely to reenter foster care, and substantially less likely to spend time in long-term foster care. They are more likely to pass their courses in school and less likely to be expelled.
Goodstein, L., Nolan, T. and Pfeiffer, J. W., 1993. Applied Strategic Planning: How to Develop a Plan that Really Works. New York: McGraw-Hill.
After analyzing the Coastal Medical Center, it is apparent that the employees and staff have no conception of the mission, vision, and values of this health care facility. In addition to this lack of structure, CMC has many projects in the midst of production that lack support of a common goal, employees are unsatisfied with their jobs, the two boards lack ability to agree on strategic decisions for the organization,, and the medical center has a dismal reputation when it comes to quality care.
SWOT analysis is a basic, straightforward model that provides direction and serves as a basis for the development of marketing plans. It accomplishes this by assessing an organizations strengths (what an organization can do) and weaknesses (what an organization cannot do) in addition to opportunities (potential favorable conditions for an organization) and threats (potential unfavorable conditions for an organization). SWOT analysis is an important step in planning and its value is often underestimated despite the simplicity in creation. The role of SWOT analysis is to take the information from the environmental analysis and separate it into internal issues (strengths and weaknesses) and external issues (opportunities and threats). Once this is completed, SWOT analysis determines if the information indicates something that will assist the firm in accomplishing its objectives (a strength or opportunity), or if it indicates an obstacle that must be overcome or minimized to achieve desired results (weakness or threat) (Marketing Strategy, 1998).
Without a successful business strategy put in place the company would fail and be unable to compete with competitors. There would be on way of knowing what resources are required. No planning for the future of the business. If there are no targets set out to achieve there would be no way of measuring how successful the company has been.
A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis is considered an “established method for assisting the formulation of strategy” (Dyson, 2004, “Abstract”, para. 1). Moreover, others believe the SWOT framework is “proposed by many as an analytical tool which should be used to categorize significant environmental factors both internal and external to the organization” (Pickton & Wright, 1998, “Abstract”, para. 1). Consequently, other scholars believe that the use of SWOT analysis to influence decisions “needs to be questioned” (Hill & Westbrook, 1998, “SWOT analysis”, para. 1). Additionally, an analysis of this nature is practically mandatory to ensure company growth and continued improvement.
Reading this article was as painful as getting teeth pulled. The article was a professor's review of a class he instructed at the University of Chicago on strategic planning. The class was not conducted in a typical class format, but instead had students actively involved in groups that gathered data, analyzed, critiqued, and prepared strategic plans for area businesses who volunteered their records time and employees for such scrutiny. Much of the article was focused on the first class session, which from the sounds of it was quite hectic. After reading the assigned text the class as a whole determined 8 steps of which their models would be based on.
The Benefits and Limitations of Strategic Planning for Organizations "It was August of 1914 and Germany had committed virtually its entire army to the invasion of Belgium and France. Few German troops remained to defend East Prussia against the invasion of two huge Russian armies. Despite the numerical inferiority, Colonel Hoffmann, chief of the German Eighth Army staff, created an audacious strategy to surround and annihilate one of the Russian armies. He began to plan a detailed attack. At the same time, on a train traveling east, General Ludendorff, the incoming chief of staff of the reinforced German forces in East Prussia, identified the same opportunity and created exactly the same strategy.
Dissimilar sources plan altered steps involved in the planning process, but in this case I will discuss on seven steps that are involved in the entire process. The first step is goal setting. This basically involves coming up with the main objectives and goals that the company wishes to establish within a particular period of time. It is a very important section because the company will operate with a view of the goal in mind, if it is not clearly established, and then the business could lose direction along the way. After goal setting, we have development of the planning premises, where the plans are prepared and any underlying conditions defined. This is where there is an assessment of the environment and any constraints or opportunities are identified.
An organization should develop an initial agreement prior to embarking on strategic planning. This process is essentially crucial because it outlines a clear understanding among key internal and external decision makers and leaders concerning the overall planning efforts of the organization.
If asked what strategic planning is one could interpret it as simply a road map that can guide the organization in the right direction. It is very unlikely that an organization would know which direction to take without a sense of direction. Managers are faced every day with decisions that have a major impact on the direction the organization must take, therefore, strategic planning can play an important role in guiding managers in the right direction. In other words strategic planning is a tool that management can use to give them a sense of direction that will guide them in doing a better job and to ensure that all the members of the organization are working toward the same goals
Strategic planning is an organizational process in which it looks towards developing and sustaining success or balance in its ever changing environment.
An organization must use a strategic marketing process to distribute its marketing mix resources to reach its target markets. The elements of a proper marketing mix are price, product, place, and promotion. They are the four P’s of the marketing process (Goi, 2009)