Term Paper

Strategy can be seen as an ongoing positioning process for an organization

and strategic planning can be seen as a separate activity reviewed at periodic
well defined intervals.

1. Introduction
To deal effectively with the wide array of factors affecting the ability of a business to
grow and prosper, managers need advanced processes they feel will facilitate the optimal
positioning of the business in its competitive environment. Such positioning is possible with
strategic because this process improves preparedness for unexpected internal or competitive
demands.
when CEOs from the big three U.S. automakers—Ford, General Motors (GM), and
Chrysler—showed up several years ago without a clear strategic plan to ask congressional
leaders for bailout monies, they were sent home with instructions to develop
a clear strategic plan for the future. Austan Goolsbee, one of President Barack Obama’s top
economic advisers, said, “Asking for a bailout without a convincing business plan was crazy.”
Goolsbee also said, “If the three auto CEOs need a bridge, it’s got to be a bridge to somewhere,
not a bridge to nowhere.” This text gives the instructions on how to develop a clear strategic
plan—a bridge to somewhere rather than nowhere.
This paper is organized into three sections including introduction, understanding Strategy
, Strategic planning and conclusion.
2.Understanding about Strategy
Strategy is an action that managers take to attain one or more of the organization’s goals.
Strategy can also be defined as “A general direction set for the company and its various
components to achieve a desired state in the future. Strategy results from the detailed strategic
planning process”.

A strategy is all about integrating organizational activities and utilizing and allocating the scarce
resources within the organizational environment so as to meet the present objectives. While
planning a strategy it is essential to consider that decisions are not taken in a vaccum and that
any act taken by a firm is likely to be met by a reaction from those affected, competitors,
customers, employees or suppliers.

Strategy can also be defined as knowledge of the goals, the uncertainty of events and the need to
take into consideration the likely or actual behavior of others. Strategy is the blueprint of
decisions in an organization that shows its objectives and goals, reduces the key policies, and
plans for achieving these goals, and defines the business the company is to carry on, the type of
economic and human organization it wants to be, and the contribution it plans to make to its
shareholders, customers and society at large.

Give an example and the fact

3. Understanding about strategic planning

Strategic planning is the ongoing organizational process of using available knowledge

to document a business's intended direction. This process is used to prioritize efforts, effectively
allocate resources, align shareholders and employees on the organization’s goals, and ensure
those goals are backed by data and sound reasoning.

Strategic planning is extremely important to individuals (regardless of the role they play,
their position or title, or their area of responsibility), their teams, and their organizations

The strategic planning process are the steps that you go through as an organization to
determine:

 the direction of your organization (Vision) 

 what you're going to do and for whom (Mission) 
 how to measure it and guide your strategy to get to where you want to be  
In this overview of the strategic planning process, we'll go through the steps that we use to create
and implement a strong strategic plan. 
There are many different ways you can create a strategic plan, much like there are several
different ways you can create a meal, and some may be more efficient than others. 
We will share the process that we, at SME Strategy, believe best prepares management teams
with sufficient information and direction to create and implement their strategic plan.
 
It's important to understand why we do strategic planning in the first place:

 To get your team on the same page and aligned with your organizations vision, mission
and goals
 To maximize your organization's resources to avoid wasting time and money on projects
or activities that are not important 
 To understand industry trends and scenarios that could impact your organization in the
coming years
 To identify and evaluate the best way to accomplish your goals
 To develop an implementation plan to keep you and your team on track and accountable
for deliverables
 And much more ... 

A strategic plan is a valuable guide for your employees, your organization's leadership and your
stakeholders to know where you're going and why you're going there.
The document that contains the strategic plan is not what is valuable; it's the information within
it and the process used to create it, that is then SHARED and COMMUNICATED with the rest
of your team. A great strategy is most often re-evaluated on an ongoing basis (yearly or
quarterly, for example), rather than being a static document just sitting in a binder. 
 4. Conclusions

Strategy is about choices: knowing what to do as much as knowing what not to do. Your
strategic plan tells your people what they should be doing so that they don't have to worry about
doing the wrong things, or having to go to a manager every time there is a decision to make.

Strategic planning is the ongoing organizational process of using available knowledge to

document a business's intended direction. This process is used to prioritize efforts, effectively
allocate resources, align shareholders and employees on the organization’s goals, and ensure
those goals are backed by data and sound reasoning.

The most simple difference between strategy and planning

Put very simply, imagine a box on the floor that represents your organization:

 Strategy is choosing where to put the box, its size and even whether it is even a box.

 Planning is working inside the box, deciding what to do about the choices that were
made. Of course you still need action, executing those choices.

Another way of looking at it is

Strategy is about understanding your environment and making choices about what you will do.
Think, if you like, of where and how to play.

Planning is about making choices about how to use the resources you have and the actions you
will take to achieve the choices made inside your strategy.

References
www.excitant.co.uk/what-is-the-difference-between-strategy-and-planning

www.managementstudyguide.com/strategic-management

www.smestrategy.net

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 Ford motor
In October 2020, we introduced The Plan to turn around our automotive business,
improve execution, speed up transformation and drive growth. We are modernizing how
we operate, simplifying our processes, building on our strengths, exploring new
opportunities, and caring for each other and our customers.

Despite the challenges of COVID-19, we finished the year in a strong position, with the
second half of 2020 providing evidence of progress against The Plan. In 2021, we will
focus on investing in growth areas, including “uniquely Ford” electric vehicles (EVs),
self-driving vehicles and connected solutions.

Under The Plan, we are improving quality, reducing costs and accelerating the
restructuring of our global businesses. Our objectives include high quality, customer
satisfaction, operational excellence and top-line growth. Specifically, we will also invest
more capital, resources and talent in our strongest businesses and vehicle franchises,
expand our commercial vehicle business with software services that drive loyalty and
revenue, and build partnerships for expertise and efficiency.

The Plan will also involve “disrupting” our conventional automotive businesses,
partnering with others to gain expertise and efficiency .