Strategic Management

TOPIC: Define Strategic management and then explain its various phases. Discuss how a team of managers can utilize strategic management to gain a sustainable competitive advantage'

A company's strategy is its game plan and like going into a war, operating a company without a game plan can be detrimental to the health and future sustainability of the organization which highlights the need for proper strategic management. It is imperative for managers to understand the phases of strategic management and how it can be utilize to gain sustainable competitive advantage.

Strategic management is an ongoing process of analysis, decisions and actions that management may undertake to determine the long- run performance of the organization. It integrates various departments of an organization in order to perfect cross functional decisions, accentuates internal and external scanning of a company's environment and underscores the monitoring and evaluating of opportunities and threats in lights of a company's strengths and weaknesses (Hunger and wheelen).

Strategic formulation, strategic implementation and strategic evaluation are the three main phases of strategic management.

What businesses should we enter? What businesses should we abandon? How should we allocate resources? Should we expand or not expand? Are all questions and considerations undertaken in the first stage of the strategic management process known as strategy formulation. It is the development of long term plans by taking into consideration the opportunities and threats in the environment along with the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. It is in this stage that a vision and mission is developed along with strategic objectives and policies geared towards achievement. Deciding which strategies to pursue and committing resources for the implementation of these strategies are important parts of this stage.

Strategy implementation is one of the most important stages because it is at this stage that a strategy is put into place to achieve the planned result. If a good strategy is not implemented then no benefit is gained. This stage seeks to develop annual objectives, motivate employees, create a strategy conducive organizational culture and structure, prepare budgets and utilize technology to put the formulated plan into action. Mobilizing and motivating employees are vital for implementation to be successful hence employees and managers should be involved in both the formulation and implementation stage which would help with intrinsic motivation in accordance with the self determination theory.

The final stage of strategic management is strategy evaluation in which management determines how well a strategy is working for the organization and whether it needs to be changed. It involves reviewing external and internal factors that are the bases for