Understanding Strategic Planning

Formal strategic planning was first introduced by the largest firms in the mid-1950s. Since then, it has become a fundamental element in all major corporations, with a growing number of smaller companies adopting this approach.

In this article, we explore the conceptual understandings, facts, processes and procedures about strategic planning that every manager – at all levels – should know.

Strategic Planning and Strategic Management

In his book Strategic Planning, George explains that there are two types of management: strategic management, which is conducted at the top levels of an organizational structure. Everything else is operational management.

In essence, strategic management is centred around the business world and respond to the three core questions: “Where do we want the business to go?” (goals), “How will we get there?” (strategy), and “How will we know once we’ve arrived?” (evaluation). In this context, strategic planning serves as the backbone of strategic management, providing its essential framework and a blueprint for achieving organisation’s goals.

Both strategic planning and management are crucial to the success of today’s corporations because they concentrate on aligning strategy with objectives—and ineffective strategies can lead to significant challenges.

Strategic Planning and Business Planning

Business plans are often confused with strategic planning and there are several important distinctions between the two types.

• A business plan is meant to lay out the foundation of a newly developed company by setting up its operational teams, devising strategies for market entry, and securing funding.

• Meanwhile, a strategic plan emphasises long-term growth and the organization’s influence on the market and its customers.

Adopted image from Link

Definitions of strategic planning

According to George (2010), for a deeper understanding, formal strategic planning can be viewed from the following three points of view:

Strategic planning focuses on the futurity of current decisions

For most planning-oriented managers, strategic planning might be viewed as a means to predict the future. However, futurity is fully unknown and uncertain. Similarly, Mintzberg once cited in his successful 1994 book The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning that managers often overestimate their ability to predict the future and to plan for it in a precise and technocratic way.

Instead, strategic planning should be about shaping and designing a desired future, developing an intellectual agility to recognise the future as it evolves and react accordingly to achieve goals. In other words, the planning here will stress organisations to make better current decisions today that exploit opportunities and avoid threats in dealing with a dynamic changing environment tomorrow.

Strategic planning is a process

Typically, strategic planning is a process that looks pretty much the same across companies with three major parts:

1. Set of organisation’s aspirational aims and goals

2. Define strategies and policies that an organisation will carry on in pursuit of the goal (e.g. product launches, geographic expansions, and construction projects)

3. Develop a detailed plan to ensure the strategies are implemented so as to achieve end goals

The process also involves defining in advance:

• The scope of the planning effort

• When it will occur

• How it will be conducted

• Who will be responsible

• How the results will be utilized

Consequently, this aspect of strategic planning is highly organized and requires extensive research and modelling, often demanding significant time and effort.

Notably, strategic planning should be viewed as a continuous process, especially with respect to strategy formation, and supported by appropriate action when necessary, given the constant changes in the business environment.

Strategic planning is an attitude

As much as it is an integral part of strategic management, the true value of strategic planning is not adhering to a specific set of processes, procedures, structures and techniques, but more of a thought process and intellectual journey, allowing participants to explore and envision the future.

In this worldview, when managers develop plans that focus primarily on initiatives that fit within the company’s budgets and resources, they often fall into the common trap of mistaking planning for strategy. While planning helps organise and allocate resources, a true strategy indeed requires a simple and quite rough-and-ready process of thinking through what it would take for a business to achieve a unique position in the market, create long-term values and then assess whether it’s realistic to try. This demands managers and even board members to look beyond immediate feasibility and consider what is necessary to realise the company’s mission, secure future growth and competitive advantage.

Benefits of strategic planning

First, a well-organized strategic planning system serves as an effective communication network, enabling all levels of management to discuss objectives, strategies, options, and challenges using a shared language throughout the decision-making process. Additionally, having a clear record of decisions—detailing who will implement them and how they should be executed once plans are finalized—becomes a valuable asset to any organization.

Second, the strategic planning system fosters managerial motivation by actively involving managers in plan development. Knowing exactly what is expected provides managers with a sense of participation and satisfaction, even when contributing to parts of the overall plan. This involvement also bolsters a sense of personal security and builds confidence.

Third, strategic planning is often seen as a management trainee process that encourages managers to ask and answer the very type of questions they frequently encounter. As a result, this process leads to better decision-making across the organization, aligning actions with the goals set by top management.

Why some companies do not have a formal strategic planning system

Despite the advantages of structuring a plan, some companies do not have formal strategic planning systems for many reasons.

• If a company faces little or no competitive pressure and operates in an environment with low uncertainty, formal planning may not be necessary.

• It is possible that for very small companies struggling for survival, formal strategic planning may not be needed as the entrepreneur’s full attention is to drive sales of the product or service.

• Some companies lack formal strategic planning because managers are either unfamiliar with it or overlook ways to implement the process more effectively.

• Some managers have a good conceptual understanding of strategic planning but postpone it due to its challenging nature.

Major factors influencing the strategic planning process

Many factors influence the extent to which strategic planning is more or less formal, which can be:

• Organisation

• Management styles

• Complexity of environment

• Complexity of production processes

• Nature of problems

• Purpose of planning system

A cursory glance at the above exhibit reveals that:

• A small company suggests much more looseness, flexibility and informality than a large company because fewer people are involved, and operations are less complex. Moreover, the lack of staff requires chief executives to be hands-on in dealing with current problems rather than spending time on strategic thinking.

• Similarly, a company operating in a relatively stable environment with weak competition typically engages in minimal planning, and when it does, the approach is usually more formal. Conversely, an organization facing a turbulent environment and intense competition is likely to adopt flexible and informal strategic planning methods.

• Companies with complex, labour- and capital-intensive production processes that rely heavily on advanced technology typically adopt comprehensive, formal planning that spans a longer timeframe, often seven to ten years. In contrast, companies with simpler operations and fewer resource demands tend to use a more straightforward and flexible planning approach.

• Likewise, management styles factor such as policy-oriented managers, who focus on governance, compliance, and standardized practices tend to lean toward formal strategic planning. In contrast, intuitive thinkers—who rely on instincts, flexibility, and quick judgment—are more likely to adopt less formal, adaptable strategic planning.

Conceptual models to create a strategic plan

There is a wide range of strategic planning models that help guide organizations in setting objectives, making decisions, and crafting strategies to achieve long-term success. While different frameworks may vary, most tend to follow a similar structure and share core elements or features illustrated below:

Top popular planning models

Basic model

This very basic process is often followed by extremely small and those new to strategic planning. The model is straightforward and focuses on:

1. Identify the purpose (mission statement of why the organisation exists)

2. Setting clear business goals that the organisation must reach to accomplish its mission

3. Outline specific approaches or strategies to reach each goal

4. Create action plans to implement each strategy above

5. Monitor and update the plan

Issue-based (or goal-based) model

This is essentially an extension of the basic strategic planning model, which is perceived as a more comprehensive and effective type of planning. For an organisation to adopt this model, it may not do all of the following activities every year.

1. Conduct a business environment scan with a SWOT analysis (Strength – Weakness – Opportunity – Threat)

2. Identify or prioritize major issues and/or goals

3. Develop major strategies that address these issues and/or goals

4. Develop major strategies that address these issues and/or goals

5. Design or update vision, mission and values that align with new updated strategies

6. Create action plans to address the organisation’s goals, resource needs, roles and responsibilities

7. Develop a yearly strategic plan document to capture goals, processes and opportunities for next time

8. Allocate a budget for the year-one strategic plan

9. Monitor and revise the strategic plan

Alignment model

This popular model is useful for organisations that need to fine-tune strategies or find out why they are not working. Overall steps include:

1. Define exactly the organisation’s mission, programs, resources and where support is needed

2. Identify which internal processes are working and which one needs adjustment

3. Identify solutions or how these adjustments should be made

4. Update the strategic plan with the adjustments

Scenario model

The scenario model works effectively when combined with other models, such as the basic or issue-based models. It is especially suitable for organizations aiming to identify strategic issues and goals influenced by external factors. Key steps include:

1. Identifying external factors that may impact the organization (e.g., regulatory changes, demographic shifts, environmental factors)

2. Exploring three potential future scenarios resulting from each factor (e.g., worst case, normal case, best case)

3. Proposing strategic responses for each scenario to address potential changes

4. Identifying common considerations or strategies essential for adapting to various external changes

5. Determining the most likely scenario and selecting the most viable strategy

Self-organising model

Also known as the organic planning model, this approach differs from traditional strategic planning by emphasizing continuous improvement, meaning the process is ongoing and never truly complete. Key steps include:

1. Clarifying and defining the organization’s cultural values

2. Developing and articulating a shared vision for the organization

3. Regularly discussing (e.g., quarterly) the processes that will help realise the organization’s vision

Examples of a one-page strategic plan

Depending on an organisation’s unique needs, some might opt for a comprehensive, multi-page strategic plan detailing the steps and procedures necessary to achieve their goals, while others may choose to create a concise one-page strategic plan that summarizes their in-depth analysis and outlines the key actions required for meaningful progress.

Due to time and space constraints, below are two typical examples of what a one-page strategic plan might look like.

Adopted image from Link

Adopted image from Link

Final thoughts

In summary, strategic planning is a critical process that enables any organisation to continuously make informed and forward-thinking decisions to align with their long-term objectives and well adapt to an ever-changing environment.

Even though some businesses, particularly those with limited competition or resources, might choose a less formal planning approach, most organizations benefit significantly from it.  By structuring a strategic planning process, not only does this approach promote alignment and clarity among management levels but also it enhances motivation and commitment to a shared vision, ultimately driving better decision-making and reinforcing the organization’s competitive advantage.

References

Asana 2024, 7 strategic planning models, plus 8 frameworks to help you get started, Asana, available at <https://asana.com/resources/strategic-planning-models>.

Blatstein, I.M., n.d. Strategic Planning: Predicting or Shaping the Future? Johns Hopkins University, Division of Public Safety Leadership.

Business Development Bank of Canada n.d., What is the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?, Business Development Bank of Canada, available at <Business plan vs. strategic plan | BDC.ca>.

Jeff, B n.d., What is the Difference Between a Business Plan and a Strategic Plan?, On Strategy, available at <Difference between a Business vs Strategic Plan | OnStrategy>.

Julia, R n.d., Blog: #JCampConf Preview: Moving to a “One Page Strategic Plan, JCamp 180, available at <https://jcamp180.org/blog-announcements/blog/october-2019/moving-to-a-one-page-strategic-plan>.

Kriemadis, T. and Theakou, E 2007, Strategic Planning Models in Public and Non-Profit Sport Organizations, Sport Management International Journal, 3(2), pp.25-37.

Maleka, S., 2014, Strategy management and strategic planning process, DTPS strategic planning & monitoring, 1(1), pp.1-29.

Meredith, H 2023, 9 Strategic Planning Models and Tools for the Customer-Focused Business, Hubspot, available at <https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/strategic-planning-models.

Roger, L.M 2014, The Big Lie of Strategic Planning, Harvard Business Review, available at <The Big Lie of Strategic Planning>.

Steiner, G.A 2010, Strategic planning, Simon and Schuster, pp.1-59