Download Strategic Planning Process In your own words, define strategic

Strategic Planning Process
In your own words, define strategic planning and explain why it is crucial to an
organization’s survival. In your response, include a description of how strategic planning
differs from strategic management. Lastly, explain how your current or previous
organization’s strategy might influence its business model. Respond to at least two of your
classmates’ posts. You must create one initial post and at least two responses, for a
minimum of three posts for this discussion.
Modern strategic planning takes into account the holistic nature of an organization to determine
which strategy and direction has the most potential for success. It is essentially choosing which
path to take and is crucial for survival because the path to organizational success has become
much more complex than in the past, requiring a heightened perspective. For example,
technology has transformed the workforce from its traditionally task-oriented nature to what is
now much more knowledge-oriented, and so the human resource is an important part of modern
strategic planning as there is a greater need for human capital. It is the modern view that people
are the most important asset of an organization and managing that asset is critical to survival.
That being said, strategy formulation, as described in the text (Abraham, 2012), is in my opinion
a better way to say “strategic planning”. In contrast, strategic management is the execution of
that strategy, or in other words, effectively walking that chosen path. It is one thing to clarify a
purpose and a goal, but to strategically manage is to use all available means, market information,
and human resources to achieve or at least reach closer to that goal over a period time. For
instance, strategic planning is to formulate a strategy for the advent of outsourcing whereas
strategic management would be identifying which countries to hire from and how to go about
employing those individuals.
In the Navy, it is quite the opposite in that their business model actually influences strategy, and
not the other way around. For example, the purpose of the Navy is to be a force in readiness and
this will not change. From an organizational strategic planning perspective, there is no strategic
planning; it is already set in stone. Also, the Navy does not choose its official missions, so
strategic management involves adapting and overcoming challenges presented by those missions
and conducting internal training based off past experiences to become more ready to face future
missions. This is quite different from how profit organizations operate and it has been interesting
for me to see how they compare.
Abraham, S. C. (2012). Strategic Management for Organizations.San Diego, CA; Bridgepoint
Education, Inc.