APPROACH TO STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT

Approach to strategy development

Approach to strategy Development

Strategy development

The natural tendency to rush into a marketing initiative must be tempered by the need to consider the organization's position in the market and formulate an appropriate strategy. A well thought out marketing strategy provides guidelines for the development of the marketing initiative and allows for thoughtful selection from the various marketing techniques that are available (Beer,1999 )

Strategy development has always been considered an essential activity of management. Strategy development gives guidance to leaders and employees about what the firm does and how it creates value for customers and shareholders. A firm may have a brilliant and analytically sound strategy, but if it doesn't guide behaviors it won't be successful. Strategic planning is about developing a plan to implement strategy. It is not about planning strategically (Beer,1999 )

Planning and Strategy

The relationship between strategy and planning is complex and interdependent, but few works on strategic planning explore this relationship in any depth. Most strategic planning models assume that strategy making is just one step in a defined and well understood planning process, which results in the production of written plans that are then implemented by staff across an organisation. The purpose and role of each stage in the overall planning process, particularly the strategy development stage is, however, often not clear. Understanding strategy development is important because organisations are at risk if strategy fails or does not take into account signals of change in the external environment (Grant,2002)The process of strategy formation is often not understood, and describes how strategy is defined in a number of ways by different planning schools: as a plan, a pattern, position, perspective or ploy (Grant,2002) Strategy for an organisation as 'the way the leaders of that organisation fulfil its mission in the environment in which they find themselves. The environment includes all kinds of factors that need to be taken into account - technical, social, political and ecological - and it also includes the future, since missions have to be carried out over long periods of time (Jackson,2003).

Strategic planning is about developing a plan to implement strategy. It is not about planning strategically. Strategic planning might well be an oxymoron. The need for organisations to plan and monitor activities in order to focus resources and effort and ensure future survival and growth has spawned an industry of practitioners, consultants and education programs. Planning practitioners have their own professional associations and have assumed a critical information role in organisations, consultants sell a wide range of strategic planning approaches and tools, and strategic planning is a core component of university business courses (Grant,2002) Strategic planning is a routine part of business practice, with an accompanying set of eliefs and protocols that underpin day-to-day practice. Yet, planning lacks a clear definition of its own place in organizations. The need to plan is generally accepted, but the resulting plans themselves are often not successful in driving implementation of an organisation's ...