The Steps with Advantages and Disadvantages of Strategic Management; Strategy: The word “strategy” derives from the Greek word “stratçgos”; stratus (meaning army) and “ago” (meaning leading/moving). A strategy is an action that managers take to attain one or more of the organization’s goals. The strategy can also be defined as “A general direction set for the company and its various components to achieve a desired state in the future. Strategy results from the detailed strategic planning process”.
A strategy is all about integrating organizational activities and utilizing and allocating the scarce resources within the organizational environment to meet the present objectives. While planning a strategy it is essential to consider that decisions do not take in a Vaccum and that any action taken by a firm is likely to be met by a reaction from those affected, competitors, customers, employees or suppliers.
The strategy can also define as knowledge of the goals, the uncertainty of events and the need to take into consideration the likely or actual behavior of others. The strategy is the blueprint of decisions in an organization that shows its objectives and goals, reduces the key policies, and plans for achieving these goals, and defines the business the company is to carry on, the type of economic and human organization it wants to be, and the contribution it plans to make to its shareholders, customers, and society at large.
The strategic management plan has various facets that are being discussed here. The strategies are applied to have proper planning and appropriate allocation of funds for the accomplishment of the goals of the company.
The formulation of the strategies essentially involves the environment within which every company has to survive. Here various important decisions make to figure out how the company will reach out to the competition. Here the external environmental analysis is done. The political, economic, legal and social aspects are assessed during the formulation of the strategies.
The strategic decision-maker checks for the competitor environment. They try to assess the resources available to the rivals and also their bargaining power with the customers. It is also important to understand the trend of the suppliers; check if there are any latest threats of the new entrants in the industry.
Though most of the companies do not take care of the internal environment this is amongst the most important while implementing strategic management fundamentals. You should have a clear SWOT analysis of your employees, processes, and resources.
This is the next important step in strategic management – here the management has to decide as to how the resources will be utilized to reach out to the goals formulated by the company. The implementation phase also checks how the resources of the organization have been structured.
The process of strategic management is a comprehensive collection of different types of continuous activities and also the processes which use in the organization. Strategic management is a way to transform the existing static plan in a proper systematic process. Strategic management can have some immediate changes in the organization. The following mentioned are few advantages of strategic management;
There is always a difference between reactive and proactive actions. When a company practices strategic management – the company will always be on the defensive side and not on the offensive end. You need to come out victorious in the competitive situation and not be a victim of the situation. It is not possible to foresee every situation but if you know that there are chances of certain situations then it is always better to keep your weapons ready to fight the situation.
Strategic management essentially and clearly defines the goals and mission of the company. The main purpose of this management is to define realistic objectives and goals – this has to be in line with the vision of the company. Strategic management provides a base for the organization based on which progress can measure and base on the same, the employees can compensate.
It is important to understand the difference between a great idea and a good idea. If you do have a proper and clear vision of your company – then having a mission and methods to achieve the mission always seems to be a very good idea. It turns into a great idea when you decide what is the type of project that you want to invest your money; how do you plan to invest your time and also utilize the time of your employees. Once you are clear with your ideas about the project and the time each of your employees and you will have to allocate, you will need to focus your attention on the financial and human resources.
The times are changing fast and dynamic changes are happening every day. The industries worldwide are changing at a fast pace and hence survival is difficult for those companies which do not have a strong and perfect base in the industry. The strategic management ensures that the company has a thorough stand in the related industry and the experts also make sure that the company is not just surviving on luck and better chances or opportunity.
When you look at various studies you would know that the industries which are not following the strategic management will survive for not more than five years. This suggests that companies should have a powerful focus on the longevity of the business. This suggests that without strategic management, a company can’t survive in the long run.
With the help of strategic management, it is possible to increase the market share and also the profitability of the company in the market. If you have a very focused plan and strategic thinking then all the industries can explore better customer segments, products and services and also to understand the market conditions of the industry in which you are operating in. Strategic management skills will help you to approach the right target market. The experts will guide for better sales and marketing approaches. You can also have a better network of distribution and also help you to take business decisions which at the end of the day results in profit.
Most of the companies have become so used to focusing on the competitors that they have started imitating their good practices. It has become so much competition that it is becoming difficult to part the companies or identify them differently. With the help of strategic management this magic is possible; try and learn all the best practices of a company and become a unique identity that will keep you apart from your competitors.
The firms which follow the process of strategic management prove to have more profits over some time as compared to the companies that do not opt for strategic management decisions. Those firms which involve in using strategic management use the right method of planning; these companies have excellent control over their future. They have a proper budget for their future projects; hence these businesses continue for a long time in the industry.
Besides the financial benefits, the companies using strategic management also provides various non-financial benefits. The experts informed that the firms which practice strategic management are always ready to defeat the external threats. They have a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the competitor and hence they can withstand the competition. This paves way for better performance and rewards for the company over some time. The main feature of this management system is that it has the capacity for problem prevention and problem-solving skills. It also helps in bringing about discipline in the firm for all types of internal and external processes.
The process of strategic management includes a set of long-term goals and objectives of the company; using this method helps the company is facing competition in a better manner and also increase its capabilities. These are some of the benefits but every coin has two sides – the same is the case with strategic management. Here are some of the limitations of strategic management;
The strategic management includes various types of continuous process which checks all type of major critical components. This includes the internal and external environments, long term and short term goals, strategic control of the company’s resources and last but not least it also has to check the organizational structure. This is a lengthy process because a change in one component can affect all the factors.
Hence one must understand the issues with all the concerned factors. This generally takes time and in the end, the growth of the company affects. Being a complex process it calls for lots of patience and time from the management to implement the strategic management. To have proper strategic management, there should be strong leadership and properly structured resources.
To implement strategic management, the top management must spend proper quality time to get the process right. The managers have to spend a lot of time researching, preparing and informing the employees about this new management. This type of long term and time-consuming training and orientation would hamper the regular activities of the company. The day to day operations are negatively impacted and in the long term, it could affect the business adversely.
E.g. many issues require daily attention but this is not taken care of because they are busy researching the details about strategic management. In case, the proper resolution of the problems is not done on time then there could be a great amount of attrition increase. Besides this, the performance of the employees will also go down; because, they are not getting the required resolution of their problems. This type of situation may lead the management to divert all their critical resources towards employee performance and motivation; while doing this your strategic management process will be sidelined.
When we speak the word strategic management then it seems to be a huge and large word. But it is also a fact that the implementation of this management system is difficult as compared to other management techniques. The implementation process calls for perfect communication among the employees and employers. Strategic management has to be implemented in such a way that the employees have to remain fully attentive; there should be active participation among the employees and besides this, the employees have to be accountable for their work.
This accountability means not only for the top management but for all employees across the hierarchy. The experts mentioned that implementation is difficult because they have to continuously strive to make the employees aware of the process and benefits of this system. E.g. if a manager was involved in forming the strategic process and he/she has not been involved in the implementation process then the manager will never be accountable for any processes in the company.
When we say management systems then it calls for perfect planning. You just cannot write things on paper and leave them. This calls for proper practical planning. This is not possible by just one person but it is a team effort. When these types of processes are to implement then you need to sideline various regular decision-making activities that would adversely affect the business in the long run.
In recent years, most of the firms have understood the importance of strategic management – it plays a key role in the upbringing and downfall of any company. In a nutshell, we can conclude that the purpose of strategic management is possible if a company can provide dedicated resources; and, staff to formulate and implement the entire system. If strategic management is implemented in the company thoroughly then there is no doubt that the company will survive all types of odds; and, competition and remain in the market for a long period.
This is required in the present situation for all companies. It just calls for proper planning and the right people to implement them in the company. You need to keep a regular check on all external and internal factors affecting your industry; besides this check all your financial resources whether they are enough to expand your business. If you could keep in mind these things the implementation will become very easy and quick for any organization irrespective of their sizes.
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