Strategy can be defined as the plans that businesses lay out to achieve their objectives (Sandberg, 1992). The plans that businesses set up in order to position themselves to make maximum profit include their mission, vision, goals, objectives, strategy, implementation and execution (Sandberg, 1992). For the previously mentioned plans to be successful good strategic management has to be in place. Good strategic management can be organized into three levels: corporate, business and operational levels (Ritson, 2013). The levels of strategic management can be formulated through several schools of thought. The schools of thought include the planning school, positioning school and the resource based school. The planning school of thought is a formulation that strives to make a fit between the strategy that a business has and the environment in which it is operating in (Ritson, 2013). Credit for the planning school goes to Igor Ansoff and K. Andrews (Flevy, August 2013; Ritson, 2013). The planning school is centered on a formal process that takes a rigorous approach focusing on detailed and inflexible planning (Sandberg, 1992). The planning school’s contribution to businesses is based on the ability to give clear directions and ensure resource allocation (Flevy, August 2013) . The planning school of thought is ideal for organizations that operate under tight control. Business models that use the planning school include: Scenario planning, Parenting style, Levers of control and the Theory of Mechanistic and Organic systems. The planning school of thought has limitations. There is a tendency for groupthink and can become too static. Prediction is difficult and as such it is not suitable for an unpredictable market. The ... ... middle of paper ... ...ning school places the business in the context of its industry and how it can improve its position within the industry. The resource-based school focuses on the internal resources available to the organization. It is important to understand different formulations in order to pick the perfect fit. Resources Flevy. (August 2013). Ten Schools of Thoughton Strategic Management. Retrieved February 1, 2014, from http://www.slideshare.net/flevydocs/ten-schools-of-thought-on-strategic-management Mission Statements. (2014). Retrieved January 31, 2014, from http://www.missionstatements.com/hospital_mission_statements.html Ritson, Neil. (2013). Strategic Management. In Bookboon (Series Ed.) Sandberg, William R. (1992, 1992 Spring). Strategic management's potential contributions to a theory of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 16, 73+.
Wheelen, Thomas L. and J. David Hunger. Strategic Management and Business Policy, 13th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2012. Print.
Dess, G. G., Lumpkin, G. T., Eisner, A. B., & McNamara, G. (2012). Strategic Management: Text & Cases (6th Ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Wheelen, Thomas L. and J. David Hunger. Strategic Management and Business Policy, 13th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2012. Print.
Fast Company,(139), 69-70,73,16. Retrieved from Research Library. Document ID: 1870795761. Wheelen, Thomas L. & Hunger, J. David, (2010). Strategic management and business policy.
Works Cited Carpenter, MA & Sanders, WG 2007, Strategic management: concepts: a dynamic perspective, Prentice Hall, New Jersy. Furrer, O 2010, Corporate level strategy: theory and applications, Taylor & Francis, New York, NY. Hill, C & Jones, G 2009, Strategic management theory: an integrated approach, Cengage Learning, New York, NY.
Wheelen, T.L., & Hunger J.D. (2008) Strategic management and business policy. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall.
Pearce, J. A., & Robinson, R. B. (2013). Strategic management: planning for domestic & global competition (13th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
2. Thompson and Strickland (2002), Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases, 13th Edition, Chicago Irwin Publications.
Hitt, M., Ireland, R. & Hoskisson, R. (2010).Strategic Management: Competitive and Globalization, Concept and Cases. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning
"Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations" (Johnson and Scholes, 2010)
Strategy is the pattern of decisions determining the organization’s objectives, purposes, or goals. It outlines the principal policies and plans for achieving those goals, and clearly defines the range of businesses the organization has to pursue. Strategy as a pattern of decisions also highlights the nature of human and economic organization it intends to be, and the nature of the economic and noneconomic contribution it intends to make towards its stakeholders, mainly, the shareholders, customers, employees, and communities[1].
Strategy formulation is the process of establishing the firm's mission, goals, and choosing among alternative strategies or plans; it involves and implies that preparing the best approach to respond to the circumstances of a firm's environment, whether or not its conditions are known in advance; being strategic and tactical, then, means being clear about the management's aims; being aware of the company's resources, and incorporating both into being consciously responsive to a dynamic environment (SM, 2010). As nearly all businesses have limited resources, top leaders and management must determine which alternative plans or strategies will do well to the organization most; strategic management requires attention to the big picture and the motivation to adapt to circumstances, and consists of the following aspects:
"The strategy formulation can develop competitive advantage only to the extent that the process can give meaning to workers in the trenches." —David Hurst (David, 2011). Strategic management can be defined as the art and science of formulation, implementation, and evaluation of cross-functional decisions that enables an organization to achieve its objectives. So, strategic management focuses on integration management, marketing, finance, operations, R&D and information systems to achieve organizational accomplishment. Strategic management is all about gaining and maintaining competitive advantages. When an organization can do something that rival cannot do, or owns something which competitor desire, that is referred as competitive advantage.
Strategic management is the process where organization managers reach the goals and aspirations of the organization on behalf of its owners. This is done through formulation and implementation of ways and methods to fulfill the organizational goals and objectives (Brian, 2011). This is done with in-depth consideration of both the internal and external environments that the organization operates in, in order to allow the organization make the right decisions. Strategic management is an important element that firms must put together through strategic thinking as well as strategic planning (Nag, R., Hambrick & Chen, 2007).
Hitt, M., Ireland, and Hoskisson, R. (2009).Strategic management: Competitive and Globalization, Concepts and Cases. In M.Staudt & Stranz (Ed).