Every company wishing to have success must have a plan, purpose, and goals. With this in mind, strategic management is the beginning of a successful model and gives an organization and its managers a course to follow. “Strategic management is a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation.” (Wheelen, T.L, & Hunger, J.D., 2010, p. 5).
Strategic management is important because it allows managers to better deal with the fast changing business world. The strategic management process provides managers with a logical, objective, and systematic method for making decision in a corporation. Strategic management allows a company to be more competitive because by providing the necessary structure for successful adaptation, the organization is able to improve performance, which can lead to the establishment of a greater competitive advantage.
Strategic Management Model
Regularly used in businesses is a strategic model with various phases and components called the Strategic Management Model. The strategic management model begins with a company’s mission and vision statement to articulate the company’s values and reasons. The model consist of five elements, environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, evaluation, and control. Within these five elements we find sub-elements. First, environmental scanning, the gathering of information from external opportunities and threats as in, natural environment, societal environment, and task environment, followed by internal strengths and weaknesses as in, structure, culture, and resources. Second, strategic formulation, developing long-range plans consisting of mission, objectives, strategies, and policies of the company. Third, strategy implementation, putting strategy into action with programs, budgets, and procedures. Fourth and fifth within the model is evaluation and control respectively. Evaluation and control is one of the most important because it deals with performance, the actual results of the strategic management process.
The Essay on Evaluating Strategic Management
The strategic management process result in decision that can have significant, long lasting consequences. In many organizations, strategy evaluation is simply an appraisal of how well an organization has performed. Strategy evaluation includes three basic activities: 1. Examining the underlying bases of firm strategy 2. Comparing expected result with actual result 3. Taking corrective action to ...
Versar, Incorporated Strategic Management
Versar, Incorporated (VSR) is a publicly traded company in the environmental and construction management industry. The performance of the business, development of Management, accomplishment of long-term strategic objectives, and other criteria fall under Versar’s strategic management process. Versar is well known for exceptional project and program management services provided to numerous foreign governments and Department of Defense facilities for a varied range of programs with Water, Energy, Air Quality, Waste, Development, Sustainable Training Lands, Transportation and Procurement. Versar uses its strategic management process to aid management, employees, and clients with the necessary planning and people that develop, implement, and guide its projects and programs in a manner that frequently encourages progress and guarantees program accomplishment. Versar’s strategic management process is designed to manage, rather than eliminate, the risk of failure to achieve business objectives.
The Term Paper on Management and workbook process
Discuss the management control system in the Patagonia Company. Explain and discuss the nature, context, evolution, elements, processes, strengths, weaknesses/problems of the management control system at Patagonia (including a critical evaluation of the Workbook Process). What makes Patagonia different from many corporate organisations? Everything! Patagonia is a very successful business that has ...
Conclusion
After investigating all the essential elements to a strategic management process we can understand why all elements are necessary to attain success. The elements taken together and when prepared appropriately help in having a robust strategic management process. However, to lower risk the elements must be examined routinely to see if modifications are necessary. Versar, Incorporated offers a good example of a company with rock-solid strategic management. The company evaluates current process and has clear cut procedures going into the world of global economics.
References
Wheelen, T.L, & Hunger, J.D. (2010).
Concepts in strategic management and business policy (12th ed.).
Upper Saddle River, JN: Pearson Education
Versar, Incorporated, 2014. Retrieved from www.versar.com