Importance of Strategic Planning Essay

The small business I would like to start would be a candy store. This paper will define strategic management, planning and explain why a strategic plan is important to the success of this business, and explain the four functions of management relative to creating and implementing a strategic plan. Strategic Management is the groundwork for a company’s vision and allows a company to be ready to capitalize on opportunities. Strategic management is a process of evaluating a company’s mission, establishing the company’s design, developing the company’s organization and relationships, and guiding the company’s plan to execution to ensure that the management is consistent with the company’s strategy. Strategic management also enhances or protects the company’s interests and defines the way a company wants to expand or focus. Strategic management if often overlooked and should be the first step in defining a company’s core values, mission, and product focus (Fazzini, 2008). Strategic planning is so important to the success of my business. Its size is what makes strategic planning so important because it means growth from small to a thriving international corporation. This is basically a growth plan. Meaning where wells it be 3 years from now or 5 years or 7 years from now. First he or she must focus on gathering data about the internal and external environment of their company. He or she must also consider outside socio-cultural factors and inside factors, including management style and workforce (Strategic Planning, 2007). One of the most important factors is having goals for your company. Make sure your goals are attainable and reasonable; follow the SMART rule – specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. By following this rule, it makes goals attainable. By being the owner, I have the yeah or nay when it comes to decisions. However, in order to have a successful business, your employees should have a say in some decision-making. This ensures that the company works together to obtain set goals. Finally devise an action plan. List possible and specific courses of action then choose what all you deem as most suitable. Define a schedule for everything but also give leeway for unexpected delays. During this time also set a budget. PlanningPlanning is a function where managers work together with others in the organization towards a common goal. Whether the goal is to increase profits or retaining employees is not the point. Working together and coming up with a plan to achieve that goal is. To be competitive in a local or global economy you need to begin by coming up with goals and create a plan on how to achieve them. Sometimes change is needed in leadership. Goals may need to be changed and updated from time to time. The planning stage will help in laying out these goals and the steps the organization will need to follow. OrganizingOrganizing an organization’s resources is the next step toward success for any management team. What can a business offer to attract employees, how can they acquire the financing they need, or what are the proper materials needed to get the project off the ground? These are but a few of the questions that need to be answered during the organizing phase. All the resources need to be organized so they can be used to the companies highest potential. If a company has strong financial backing but fails to offer incentives to retain their employees will fail in the end. The employees are who keep a company running. It is such a waste to spend the time and money to train an employee, then turn around, and offer nothing else but a pay check. Employee benefits and regular training are a few beginning incentives to keep employees interested in staying with your company. If the employees are not happy they will eventually go somewhere else and the company will have to spend more money to hire and train more employees to replace the ones that left. LeadingLeading people towards doing their best is a skill greatly needed in management positions. Helping coworkers to achieve the goals and programs of the company through two-way communication can help employees feel like their contributions have meaning and will be considered. Management that leads the  employees to contribute will have a better chance of success than a company that â€Å"tells† and expects the employees to blindly â€Å"follow.† The employees see the daily function of the organization. Many times he or she sees what does and does not work before management does. Management needs to take this information and use it to lead the company. ControllingEven with planning, organizing, and leading, you still need to exert some control to keep things on track. Managers need to know what it going on in the organization and be able to make changes when needed. A manager can also exert too much control over a situation by not helping the employees to think and work through a problem that may have arisen. A company that encourages its people to think is a company that will be able to succeed in the long run. As important as planning, organization, leadership and control are in a company, you need all these functions for the company to succeed in the business world. You cannot have planning and leadership with a small amount of organization and no control and expect things to work out well. Each function depends on the others to support and carry the organization. A successful company implements all four functions and uses the managers and employees to the best of their abilities. References Fazzini, D. (2008). How to Define Strategic Management. Retrieved July 6, 2008, from http://www.ehow.com/how_2364537_define-strategic-management.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_artStrategic Planning, (2007, March 15). Why Strategic Planning is Important Even for Small Businesses. Retrieved July 7, 2008, from http://smbconsulting.wordpress.com/?s=Why+Strategic+Planning+is+Important+Even+for+Small+Businesses&submit=