INTRODUCTION According to Douglas Webster, (2004), Strategic management is an on-going process of managing an organization strategically.

This involves a set of management decisions and actions that result in formulating and implementing strategies that determine the performance and success of the organization. The focus is primarily on large-scale, future-oriented strategies that allow an organization to achieve its objectives, considering the environment in which it operates. Wells, D., (1996), emphasized that strategic management requires good strategic thinking to be successful. Strategic management is a process that involves strategic planning and management into a single process. Strategy-making is an on-going effort that proceeds on two fronts: one proactively through analysis and thought in advance, the other emerging and/or conceived in response to new developments, special opportunities, and experience with prior strategic actions As we consider business cases, and actual strategic management situations, we are primarily trying to answer a framework of questions such as: What are the current purposes and strategy of the firm? What are its strengths and weaknesses? What are the major opportunities and threats in the firm's environment? And, how can those organizational capacities and industry opportunities be related effectively? A complementary perspective is that we are trying to answer three deceptively simple questions for each organization at a particular time: (1) where are we (the organization) now? (2) Where do we need to or want to be? (3) How do we get there? In todays highly competitive business environment, budget-oriented planning or forecastbased planning methods are insufficient for a large corporation to survive and prosper. The firm must engage in strategic planning that clearly defines objectives and assesses both the internal and external situation to formulate strategy, implement the strategy, evaluate the progress and make adjustments as necessary. A strategy is a plan of action that one uses in order to achieve their goals. Strategic management involves the forming and implementing of that plan by all managers within an organization. A strategy map is usually created which will align all of the companys efforts to work towards one collective goal or goals. It helps members at every level of the business to understand where they need to contribute and helps them see that they are part of something bigger. The actual decision making involved within the strategic management

process used to only consist of top Executives. They would form the plan and then reiterate it to lower level managers however this is now shifting so that managers at all of the levels are involved in the whole process. This leads to better communication and more effective leadership. The strategic management process itself consists of the following 6 steps: The process whereby all the organizational functions and resources are integrated and coordinated to implement formulated strategies which are aligned with the environment, in order to achieve the long-term objectives of the organization and therefore gain a competitive advantage through adding value for the stakeholders. Competitive advantage the edge that an organization has over other organizations It can be achieved through strategies like lower costs, a wider range of products/services (differentiation) or a focus on a specific niche market segment. To be able to achieve such a competitive advantage, an organization needs to meet the needs of the stakeholders, which mean adding value. Strategy an effort or deliberate action that an organization implements to outperform its rivals. Adding value adding certain characteristics to the product/service that the competitor and customer (or other stakeholders) cannot do themselves.

Government

Shareholders

Media/press

Suppliers

Organisations stakeholders

Customers

Community Employees

Financial institutions

I will use a model of the strategic planning process that has five phases as illustrated in the diagram below and thereafter each is going to be discussed in more detail in separate parts:

Figure 1.0:

A simplified view of the strategic planning process is shown by the

following diagram:

MISSION & OBJECTIVES

ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING

STRATEGY FORMULATION

STRATEGY IMPLEMENTAION

EVALUATION AND CONTROL

SOURCE: http://quickmba.com/strategy/strategic-planning/ Step 1: Establish the vision, mission and goals of the organization this step involves the clarification of what the company is and who they do business for. At the very basic level, it defines what product, service or good is going to be offered. The vision of the company refers

to the future of its existence and serves the purpose to inspire and motivate members to work hard to achieve this vision. Establishing these 3 things helps the company to zone in on the ultimate goal so they know where to focus their energies. Organizational direction and environmental analysis Every organization should have a mission statement and a vision statement to guide it into the future. These give organizational direction, and focus the employees and managers on how and why they are a business. The first step involves performing a situation analysis, self-evaluation, and competitor analysis both internal and external, and both micro-environmental and macro-environmental. When assessing competitors, consider determining what makes a competitor attractive to its customers and what your company can learn from that competitor's success. Also, consider what your potential customer needs. Do your customers enjoy every aspect of your product or service? What bothers them about acquiring or using your product? Is there any way that the business can improve the user's experience? The mission statement describes the companys business vision, including the unchanging values and purpose of the firm and forward-looking visionary goals that guide the pursuit of the future opportunities. Guided by the business vision, the firms leaders can define measurable financial and strategic objectives. Financial objectives involve measures such as sales targets and earnings growth. Strategic objectives are related to the firms business position, and ma y include measures such as market share and reputation. Step 2: Analyse opportunities & threats: This step is to analyse outside resources and competition. Through market research and studying the industry and any regulation requirements, the organization will be better able to anticipate the needs of its clientele. Studying competitors can help companies realize potential things that they should avoid doing or certain strategies that they can adopt that has worked for the other company. The environmental analysis of the organization consists in evaluating and analyzing the external environment for possible opportunities and threats, and the internal environment for possible strengths and weaknesses (SWOT analysis). This component or phase of the strategic management process (and case analysis process) includes: (1) performing a situation analysis (analysis of the internal environment of the organization), including identification and evaluation of current mission, strategic objectives, strategies, and results, plus major strengths and weaknesses; (2) analysing the organization's external(PESTGL analysis) and competitive environment, including major opportunities and threats through SWOT analysis; and (3) analysis of the firms industry (task environment) through identifying and discussing the major critical issues, which are a small set of major problems, threats, weaknesses, and/or opportunities that require particularly high priority attention by management. An industry

analysis can be performed through Michael Porter known as Porters Five forces. This frame evaluates barriers, suppliers, customers, substitute products and industry rivalry. In this phase, one should be sure he/she is dealing with causal problems rather than their results and symptoms. Both immediate and long-range problems should receive attention. The final result or output of the diagnosis phase should be a precise, clear statement of the critical strategic issues to be addressed.

Step 3: Analyse the internal strengths and potential weaknesses of the organization: This step is meant for companies to see where they can improve within the confines of the business itself. Pinpointing any weak links or potential problems can save the company a lot of time and money if they can fix the issue before it becomes a bigger one. This includes an audit of every department and can be accomplished by performance reviews of employees and an audit of all assets and resources the company has.

Step 4: Analyzing strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) and begin forming the strategy: This step consists of analyzing the information that was discovered in steps 2 & 3 in a side-by-side comparison. The strengths and weaknesses of the internal resources plus knowing the existing opportunities and threats that exist outside of the company help to identify the main issues an organization needs to deal with when forming their strategy. Strategy formulation given the strategic direction and environmental analysis, the organization is now in a position to develop long-term objectives, which are more quantifiable than the mission statement developed in the previous stage, but which are derived from it. Given the information from the environmental scan, the firm should match its strengths to the opportunities that it has identified, while addressing its weaknesses and external threats. To attain superior profitability, the firm seeks to develop a competitive advantage over its rivals. A competitive advantage can be based on cost or differentiation. Michael Porter identified three industry-independent generic strategies from which the firm can choose which are focused, differentiation and lower cost leadership. The output of this phase should be a clear set of recommendations, with supporting justification, that revise as necessary the mission and objectives of the organization, and supply the strategy and plans for accomplishing them. Ones recommendations should cover:

i) Corporate-level strategy - with three components: (a) growth or directional strategy (what should be our growth objective, ranging from retrenchment through stability to varying degrees of growth - and how do we accomplish this), (b) portfolio strategy (what should be our portfolio of lines of business, which implicitly requires reconsidering how much concentration or diversification we should have), and (c) parenting strategy (how we allocate resources and manage capabilities & activities across the portfolio - where do we put special emphasis, and how much do we integrate our various lines of business)

ii). Competitive (or business-level) strategy - (i.e., how we will compete within each business or industry segment)

iii). (Possibly) Other strategies - sometimes functional-level strategies, to finish addressing address all your Critical Issues (usually, most {possibly, all} of your CIs will have been addressed in your recommendations regarding corporate-level and competitive strategy). It is important to consider "fits" between resources plus competencies with opportunities, or between risks and expectations. A good recommendation should be: effective in solving the stated problem(s), practical (can be implemented in this situation, with the resources available), feasible within a reasonable time frame, cost-effective, not overly disruptive, and acceptable to key "stakeholders" in the organization. In developing recommendations, especially those to address the Critical Issues, ones process should have three primary elements: (a) formulating a rich range of strategic alternatives to address the major issues, (b) evaluating the alternatives in terms of feasibility and expected effects on the problem(s) and other outcomes, (c) deciding on the alternatives to be implemented / recommended Step 5: Implementing the strategy: In order to get a strategic plan to work effectively, it must be implemented and executed properly. Some of the ways that strategies tend to fail are because of miscommunication among different levels of the organization and losing clarity of the tasks at hand. Strategic tasks should be defined and the abilities of the organization should be determined. There should be a timetable/agenda created that outlines the implementation as well as a plan. There are many different types of strategies but some of the main ones to note are: corporate strategy, business strategy, low-cost strategy, differentiation strategy and functional strategies. Strategy implementation To be able to implement the strategies chosen in the previous section, certain drivers (driving forces) are available to successfully achieve the objectives and mission. These include leadership, culture, reward systems, organizational structures and allocation of resources. The selected strategy is implemented by means of

programs, budgets and procedures. Implementation involves organization of the firms resources and motivation of the staff to objectives. The way in which the strategy is implemented can have a significant impact on whether it will be successful. In a large company, those who implement the strategy likely will be different people from those who formulated it. For this reason, care must be taken to communicate the strategy and the reasoning behind it. Otherwise the implementation might not succeed if the strategy is misunderstood or if lower level managers resist its implementation because they do not understand why the particular strategy was selected. In business, and in the practice of strategic management, plans must be implemented to achieve the intended results. The most wonderful plan in the history of the world is useless if not implemented successfully -- and it is not acceptable just to complain "they didn't support it." Recommendations about implementation are a vital part of a case analysis, and you will be expected to provide a specific implementation plan as part of the recommendations for cases. The implementation plan is basically a sequence of action steps necessary to bring about the chosen new (or change in) strategy, derived from considering: what has to be done, how will it get done, who will do it, when will it be done, where will it be done, and why are we doing it this way (i.e., provide key elements of the reasoning). Among the topics to be considered you address these six key questions and design the implementation steps are: resources (financial, human, physical, technological) and including action steps to obtain needed resources that you don't have initially, reward systems, timing and sequencing of the actions, developing and maintaining support for change, organization structure, and how to monitor and control the implementation to produce the desired results. Developing a detailed implementation plan, as one might do for an important change in a company, can take a lot of effort and become a lengthy document. However, for the major case reports in this course, ones plan can be much simpler. The final plan would be only 1 -2 pages in a 20-page report, so one need not go into great detail. The final plan should be a numbered set of the major action steps necessary to effect the strategic change(s) one have recommended, considering the key six questions plus topics given earlier in this paragraph. One should provide some text, not just an outline. The steps should be arranged in a sequence that reflects general timing and constraints.

Step 6: Strategic Follow up: After the strategy has been implemented, there needs to be a way to make sure that it is working. A control system should be put in place so that managers can evaluate the process. They need to be able to identify whats working and what isnt. The faster problems can be identified, the faster they can be resolved and improved. Following these steps can help ensure that you create an effective, efficient and successful strategy. Strategic management analyses the major initiatives taken by a company's top management on behalf of owners, involving resources and performance in external environments. It entails specifying the organization's mission, vision, and objectives; developing policies and plans, often in terms of projects and programs that are designed to achieve these objectives; and then allocating resources to implement the policies and plans, projects and programs. There are five major steps for a company to follow when developing a strategy:

Assess its competitors and market. Set goals and strategies based on the company's competitive position. Reassess each strategy annually or quarterly (i.e. regularly) to determine how it has been implemented. Reassess each strategy to determine whether it has succeeded or needs replacement by a new strategy to meet changed circumstances. These include new technology, new competitors, a new economic environment, or a new social, financial, or political environment. Evaluate and control the business and the industries in which the company is involved (Figure 1).

With a plan in place there is needed to evaluate its effectiveness in designing solutions and make adjustments in the plans as necessary. Using the measures established in formulation stage one now need to determine if the company is going to accomplish the results which are set to be set out to accomplish. If not, Why? And there is need to develop course corrections as necessary based on identifiable needs. Monitoring and evaluation involves a loop back through the process to determine course corrections. Changes may need to be made for any number of reasons, external environment, and internal environment, other stakeholder needs, etc. By using the model again we will be sure to identify all of the factors we need to be aware of in planning the course correction.

Why do we do this step? /Why is it important? To know where we're at and how we're doing on carrying out our plans and achieving our outcomes at regular intervals, so allowing adjustments to be made to get us back on track. Few plans are perfect; they need adjustment. Changes in the "environment" will make flawless plans ineffective. It provides another opportunity to make strategically managing and supervising the normal way of doing things.

What is this step? A systematic, planned way to evaluate our progress on plans, add new information to the picture and make decisions on changes to plans, including "next steps".

How do we know we've done this step well? Plans are effective (we accomplish what we set out to accomplish). Plans fit what's happening in the world around us (they change when the world changes). How do we do this step? 1) Have we done what we said we'd do? If not, why? 2) Are we accomplishing the results we set out to accomplish? If not, why? 3) Develop course corrections plans, based on needs. In summary, this stage consists of the following steps: i) ii) iii) iv) v) Define parameters to be measured Define target values for those parameters Perform measurements Compare measured results to the pre-defined standards Make necessary changes.

CONCLUSION The essence of being strategic thus lies in a capacity for "intelligent trial -and error" rather than linear adherence to finally honed and detailed strategic plans. Strategic management will add little value -indeed, it may well do harm -if organizational strategies are designed to be used as a detailed blueprints for managers. Strategy should be seen, rather, as laying out the general path - but not the precise steps - by which an organization intends to create value. Strategic management is a question of interpreting, and continuously reinterpreting, the possibilities presented by shifting circumstances for advancing an organization's objectives. Doing so requires strategists to think simultaneously about desired objectives, the best approach for achieving them, and the resources implied by the chosen approach. It requires a frame of mind that admits of no boundary between means and ends, (Bryson, J.M, 1988)

REFERENCES Bryson, J.M., 1999, Strategic Management in Public and Voluntary Services: A Reader, Amsterdam: Pergamon Bryson, J.M., and Einsweiler, R.C., 1988, Strategic Planning: Threats and Opportunities for Planners, Chicago: Cecil Nieuwenhuizen, Dick Rossouw; 2008, Business Management-A contemporary approach,Capetown, South Africa Douglas Webster, 2004 , United Nations, Guidelines on Strategic Planning and Management New York Royal Dutch Shell, 1991, The Art of the Long View, New York: Doubleday United Nations, Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning, the Programme Aspects of the Budget, the Monitoring of Implementation and the Methods of Evaluation; Secretary-Generals bulletin: ST/SGB/2000/8, 19 April 2000. Webster, D., and Ti, Le-Huu, 2000, An Overview of Regional Experiences and Recent Development in Strategic Planning of Water Resources, Bangkok: ESCAP, United Nations. Wells, D., 1996, Strategic Management For Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation, Washington: US Department of the Navy Total Quality Leadership Office, (TQLO Publication 96-03).

Sites visited http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/strategic-planning accessed on 18-02-2014 www.kbos.net accessed on 18-02-2014 www.csun.edu/~hfmgt001/smprocess.htm- accessed on 16-02-2014