Strategic planning is a process which involves taking a view of both the organisation and the future that it is likely to encounter, and then attempting to organise the structure and resources of the organisation accordingly. It deals with the statement of actions to be taken together with resources required to achieve goals.

i) Mission and Objectives

A mission is the rationale behind the company’s existence. What is it for? An objective is more precise. It is a particular desired outcome

ii) Internal assessment.

This is a review of an organisation, existing structure, skills and processes.

iii) Environmental assessment

The external assessment analyses the factors in the organisation’s environment which might affect it in general terms and in terms of its competitors.

iv) Corporate appraisal

This is the process by which the internal and external assessments are combined to assess the organisations strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats it faces in the environment.

v) Strategic choice

This involves the analysis of alternative strategies, and a choice among them. They include the ‘three generic strategies outlined by Michael Porter (cost-leadership differentiation, focus)

vi) Implementation

At this point, strategies are put into action in the firm’s activities and practices in relation to the operational units.

vii) Review

During the implementation of a chosen strategy, there is the need to periodically review it in the light of changes in the environment in order that implementations challenges can be solved.

                                                                                                                                                                             (2 Marks Each)

Environmental Scanning is the monitoring, evaluation, and dissemination of information from the internal and external environments to key people within the organisation. This information relates to the factors which can have effects on the operations of the firm.