Historical perspective of strategic management

Santayana’s quote has strong implications for strategic management. The history of strategic
management can be traced back several thousand years. Great wisdom about strategy can be
acquired by understanding the past, but ignoring the lessons of history can lead to costly strategic
mistakes that could have been avoided. Certainly, the present offers very important lessons;
businesses can gain knowledge about what strategies do and do not work by studying the current
actions of other businesses. But this section discusses two less obvious sources of wisdom: (1)
strategy in ancient times and (2) military strategy.

Strategy in Ancient Times

Perhaps the earliest-known discussion of strategy is offered in the Old Testament of the Bible
(Bracker, 1980). Approximately 3,500 years ago, Moses faced quite a challenge after leading his
fellow Hebrews out of enslavement in Egypt. Moses was overwhelmed as the lone strategist at the
helm of a nation that may have exceeded one million people. Based on advice from his father-in-
law, Moses began delegating authority to other leaders, each of whom oversaw a group of people.
This hierarchical delegation of authority created a command structure that freed Moses to
concentrate on the biggest decisions and helped him implement his strategies (Table 1.2 “Strategy
in Ancient Times”). Similarly, the demands of strategic management today are simply too much
for a chief executive officer (the top leader of a company) to handle alone. Many important tasks
are thus entrusted to vice presidents and other executives.

In ancient China, strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu offered thoughts on strategy that continue to
be studied carefully by business and military leaders today. Sun Tzu’s best-known work is The Art
of War. As this title implies, Sun Tzu emphasized the creative and deceptive aspects of strategy.

One of Sun Tzu’s ideas that has numerous business applications is that winning a battle without
fighting is the best way to win. Apple’s behavior in the personal computer business offers a good
example of this idea in action. Many computer makers such as Toshiba, Acer, and Lenovo compete
with one another based primarily on price. This leads to price wars that undermine the computer
makers’ profits. In contrast, Apple prefers to develop unique features for its computers, features
that have created a fiercely loyal set of customers. Apple boldly charges far more for its computers
than its rivals charge for theirs. Apple does not even worry much about whether its computers’
software is compatible with the software used by most other computers. Rather than fighting a
battle with other firms, Apple wins within the computer business by creating its own unique market
and by attracting a set of loyal customers. Sun Tzu would probably admire Apple’s approach.

Perhaps the most famous example of strategy in ancient times revolves around the Trojan horse.
According to legend, Greek soldiers wanted to find a way to enter the gates of Troy and attack the
city from the inside. They devised a ploy that involved creating a giant wooden horse, hiding
soldiers inside the horse, and offering the horse to the Trojans as a gift. The Trojans were fooled
and brought the horse inside their city. When night arrived, the hidden Greek soldiers opened the
gates for their army, leading to a Greek victory. In modern times, the term Trojan horse refers to
gestures that appear on the surface to be beneficial to the recipient but that mask a sinister intent.
Computer viruses also are sometimes referred to as Trojan horses.

A far more noble approach to strategy than the Greeks’ is attributed to King Arthur of Britain.
Unlike the hierarchical approach to organizing Moses used, Arthur allegedly considered himself
and each of his knights to have an equal say in plotting the group’s strategy. Indeed, the group is
thought to have held its meetings at a round table so that no voice, including Arthur’s, would be
seen as more important than the others. The choice of furniture in modern executive suites is
perhaps revealing. Most feature rectangular meeting tables, perhaps signaling that one person—
the chief executive officer—is in charge.

Another implication for strategic management offered by King Arthur and his Knights of the
Round Table involves the concept of mission. Their vigorous search to find the Holy Grail (the
legendary cup used by Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper) serves as an exemplar for the
importance of a central mission to guide organizational strategy and actions.

Lessons Offered by Military Strategy

Key military conflicts and events have shaped the understanding of strategic management (Table
1.3). Indeed, the word strategy has its roots in warfare. The Greek verb strategos means “army
leader” and the idea of stratego (from which we get the word strategy) refers to defeating an enemy
by effectively using resources (Bracker, 1980).

A book written nearly five hundred years ago is still regarded by many as an insightful guide for
conquering and ruling territories. Niccolò Machiavelli’s 1532 book The Prince offers clever
recipes for success to government leaders. Some of the book’s suggestions are quite devious, and
the word Machiavellian is used today to refer to acts of deceit and manipulation.

Two wars fought on American soil provide important lessons about strategic management. In the
late 1700s, the American Revolution pitted the American colonies against mighty Great Britain.
The Americans relied on nontraditional tactics, such as guerilla warfare and the strategic targeting
of British officers. Although these tactics were considered by Great Britain to be barbaric, they
later became widely used approaches to warfare. The Americans owed their success in part to help
from the French navy, illustrating the potential value of strategic alliances.

Nearly a century later, Americans turned on one another during the Civil War. After four years of
hostilities, the Confederate states were forced to surrender. Historians consider the Confederacy
to have had better generals, but the Union possessed greater resources, such as factories and
railroad lines. As many modern companies have discovered, sometimes good strategies simply
cannot overcome a stronger adversary.

Two wars fought on Russian soil also offer insights. In the 1800s, a powerful French invasion
force was defeated in part by the brutal nature of Russian winters. In the 1940s, a similar fate befell
German forces during World War II. Against the advice of some of his leading generals, Adolf
Hitler ordered his army to conquer Russia. Like the French before them, the Germans were able
to penetrate deep into Russian territory. As George Santayana had warned, however, the forgotten
past was about to repeat itself. Horrific cold stopped the German advance. Russian forces
eventually took control of the combat, and Hitler committed suicide as the Russians approached
the German capital, Berlin.

Five years earlier, Germany ironically had benefited from an opponent ignoring the strategic
management lessons of the past. In ancient times, the Romans had assumed that no army could
cross a mountain range known as the Alps. An enemy general named Hannibal put his men on
elephants, crossed the mountains, and caught Roman forces unprepared. French commanders made
a similar bad assumption in 1940. When Germany invaded Belgium (and then France) in 1940, its
strategy caught French forces by surprise.

The top French commanders assumed that German tanks simply could not make it through a
thickly wooded region known as the Ardennes Forest. As a result, French forces did not bother
preparing a strong defense in that area. Most of the French army and their British allies instead
protected against a small, diversionary force that the Germans had sent as a deception to the north
of the forest. German forces made it through the forest, encircled the allied forces, and started
driving them toward the ocean. Many thousands of French and British soldiers were killed or
captured. In retrospect, the French generals had ignored an important lesson of history: do not
make assumptions about what your adversary can and cannot do. Executives who make similar
assumptions about their competitors put their organizations’ performance in jeopardy.

Strategic management often borrows lessons as well as metaphors from classic military strategy.
For example, major business decisions are often categorized as “strategic” while more minor
decisions (such as small changes in price or the opening of a new location) are referred to as
“tactical” decisions. Here are a few select examples of classic military strategies that hold insights
for strategic decisions today.

Essence of strategy

Long Term Objectives: Strategy is formulated keeping in mind the long-term objectives of the
organization. It .is so because it emphasizes on long term growth and development. Strategy is
future oriented and therefore concerned with the objectives which have a long-term perspective.

The objectives give directions for implementing a strategy.

Competitive Advantage: Whenever strategy is formulated, managers have to keep in mind the
competitors of the organization. The environment has to be continuously monitored for forming a
strategy. Strategy has to be made in a sense that the firm may have competitive advantage. It makes
the organization competent enough to meet the external threats and profit from the environmental
opportunities. The changes that take place over a period of time in the environment have made the
use of strategy more beneficial. While making plans, competitors may be ignored but making
strategy, competitors are given due importance.

Vector: Strategy involves adoption of the course of action and allocation of resource for meeting
the long-term objectives. From among the various courses of action available, the, managers have
to choose the one which utilizes the resources of the organization in the best possible manner and
helps in the ac1iievement of the organizational objectives. A series of decisions are taken and they
are in the same direction.

Strategy provides direction to the whole organization. When the objective has been set, they bring
about clarity to the whole organization. They provide clear direction to persons in the organization
who are responsible for implementing the various courses of action. Most people perform better if
they know clearly what they are expected to do and where the organization is going.

Synergy: Once we take a series of decisions to accomplish the objectives in the same direction,
there will be synergy. Strategies boost the prospects by providing synergy. Let us now take an
example to illustrate the essence of strategy in a firm dealing with

chemicals. The scope of the firm relating the product is basic chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The
objectives of the firm can be:

Return on Investment: Threshold 20%, goal 35%.

Sales growth rate: Threshold lo%, goal 15%.

The strategy which comprises of the competitive advantage, growth vector and synergy can be:

Competitive advantage: Patent protection and well-developed R & D division.

Growth vector: Product development and concentric diversification.

Synergy: Use of the firm's research capabilities and production technology.

In this manner each firm can individually have its own strategy.

Guide to developing your company’s strategic vision

1. Clear definition of the management team: The leadership of the organization develops
and implements an effective vision. Set up the management structure before you make
the vision. If you make a strategic plan for a team, choose two or three team members to
help the director and assistant director with this project. When the team’s roles are clear,
the process can go smoothly.
2. Clear discussion of relevant strategic vision: Once a business or team has identified all
the important stakeholders or participants, they openly and honestly discuss the
organization’s future. A company could write different vision statements depending on the
organization’s needs. Some kinds of strategic vision are:

 Quality: A quality vision describes the company’s long-term plans to improve

quality, such as buying new materials or training new employees.
  Branded: An organization’s brand strategy, consisting of its image, reputation
management, and recognition, are all components that are outlined in a branded vision
document.

 Economic: An organization needs to have an economic vision describing its strategic

approach to its financial development.

3. Market position analysis: Defining a strategic vision depends on the current state of the
organization. It is important to analyze the company’s products with those of the
competitors.

This analysis may include perspectives from a variety of entities, including management, staff,
and customers. Examining the company’s or team’s position may create strategic visions that more
properly answer the company’s current needs.

Strategic management process

1. Establishing Organizational Objectives: This involves establishing long-term goals of

an organization. Strategic decisions can be taken once the organizational objectives are
determined.
2. Analysis of Organizational Environment: This involves SWOT analysis, meaning
identifying the company’s strengths and weaknesses and keeping vigilance over
competitors’ actions to understand opportunities and threats.
Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors which the company has control over.
Opportunities and threats, on the other hand, are external factors over which the company
has no control. A successful organization builds on its strengths, overcomes its weakness,
identifies new opportunities and protects against external threats.

3. Forming quantitative goals: Defining targets so as to meet the company’s short-term and
long-term objectives. Example, 30% increase in revenue this year of a company.
4. Objectives in context with divisional plans: This involves setting up targets for every
department so that they work in coherence with the organization as a whole.
5. Performance Analysis: This is done to estimate the degree of variation between the actual
and the standard performance of an organization.
6. Selection of Strategy: This is the final step of strategy formulation. It involves evaluation
of the alternatives and selection of the best strategy amongst them to be the strategy of the
organization.
Strategy formulation process is an integral part of strategic management, as it helps in framing
effective strategies for the organization, to survive and grow in the dynamic business environment.
Levels of strategy formulation

There are three levels of strategy formulation used in an organization:

 Corporate level strategy: This level outlines what you want to achieve: growth, stability,
acquisition or retrenchment. It focuses on what business you are going to enter the market.
 Business level strategy: This level answers the question of how you are going to compete.
It plays a role in those organization which have smaller units of business and each is
considered as the strategic business unit (SBU).
 Functional level strategy: This level concentrates on how an organization is going to
grow. It defines daily actions including allocation of resources to deliver corporate and
business level strategies.
Hence, all organizations have competitors, and it is the strategy that enables one business to
become more successful and established than the other.

Role of Stakeholders in Business Organization

A stakeholder is a person who has an interest in the company, IT service or its projects. They can
be the employees of the company, suppliers, vendors or any partner. They all have an interest in
the organization. Stakeholders can also be an investor in the company and their actions determine
the outcome of the company. Such stakeholder plays an important role in defining the future of
the company as well as its day-to-day workings.

Internal Stakeholders: They are a part of the management of the company and have voting
powers. They are the major investors in the company and a part of the board of directors. Therefore
they have all the powers that other higher-level management have and can change the direction of
the company.

External Stakeholders: Unlike internal stakeholders, their major role is to invest or disinvest in
the company. They hardly can bring any change in the company’s direction. They do not take part
in any internal operations or decision making of the company.

Roles of Stakeholders

 Direct the Management: The stakeholders can be a part of the board of directors and
therefore help in taking actions. They can take over certain departments like service, human
resources or research and development and manage them for ensuring success.
 They Bring in Money: Stakeholders are the large investors of the company and they can
anytime bring in or take out money from the company. Their decision shall depend upon
the company’s financial performance. Therefore, they can pressurize the management for
financial reports and change tactics if necessary. Some stakeholders can even increase or
decrease the investment to change the share price in the market and thus make the
conditions favorable for them.
  Help in Decision Making: Major stakeholders are part of the board of directors. Therefore,
they also take decisions along with other board members. They have the power to disrupt
the decisions as well. They and bring n more ideas a threaten the management to obey
them. The stakeholders also have all the powers to appoint senior-level management.
Therefore, they are there in all the major decision-making areas. They also take decisions
regarding liquidations and also acquisitions.
 Corporate Conscience: Large stakeholders are the major stakeholders of the company and
have monitored over all the major activities of the company. They can make the company
abide by human rights and environmental laws. They also monitor the outsourcing
activities and may vote against any business decision if it harms the long-term goals of the
company.
 Other Responsibilities: Apart from the above four major roles they also have some other
roles to play in the company. They can identify new areas for market penetration and
increased sales. They can bring in more marketing ideas. They also attract other investors
like honeybees in the company. They can be a part of a selection board or a representative
for the company. Moreover, they can take all the major social and environmental
decisions.

Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics

Each organization needs a clear vision, mission, goals, objectives, and long-term strategies to make
their business a movement. These statements help in outlining the organization’s future. Also,
create a mental image of the organization. But many professionals use these terms interchangeably.
They mixed up meanings and create confusion. In this blog, I will discuss to burst the differences
between these terms. Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics – These are 5 statements
which form the two aspects of the business-

 What the organizations want to achieve – reflected by the Vision mission and objectives
of companies.
 And how they are going to achieve the above “what”- reflected by the Strategies and
Tactics. These are long term and short-term implementation plans respectively.

Organizations gain real strength when these statements show:

 Clarity,
 Completeness, and are consistent with each other.

It implies that there should be an alignment between these statements. You can ensure this
alignment by the assessment of:

 Definition: If these statements are defined for the foundation of organization success?
 Clarity: If these provide a direction and plan for the work, organizational resources do?
 Communication: Are Organization resources aware of these statements? And use them
as a context of the work, they do?
 Commitment: If these statements make people supportive of the organization’s intent?
And, if they agreed to the content of these statements?
If your assessment says “Yes” on the above-mentioned parameters- it significantly ensures internal
organization capability.

And, if any of the above is lacking, then there is a potential of weakness. This weakness limits and
undermines organization success. These statements are vital in assessing the internal capabilities
and limitations of the organization.

Let’s see how these statements create a foundation of organization Success? I am beginning with
the comprehension of these statements.

1. Vision:

A vision is a Big Picture of “What” the organization wants to achieve in Future. It should inspire
people in the organization. It excites people to be part of “What.” And, also motivate to put their
energy and time to achieve the future. How do you write a good vision statement? What does a
vision stamen include? Let’s take an example of an agriculture business:

“A Vibrant Economy is driven by value-added agriculture” Here the Vibrant Economy has the
ability to inspire the people involved in this agricultural business. A good vision statement inspires
to create a movement. It describes the desired outcome to invoke a mental image of the
organization.

Steps of vision Formulation

1. Establishing Organizational Objectives: This involves establishing long-term goals of

an organization. Strategic decisions can be taken once the organizational objectives are
determined.
2. Analysis of Organizational Environment: This involves SWOT analysis, meaning
identifying the company’s strengths and weaknesses and keeping vigilance over
competitors’ actions to understand opportunities and threats.
Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors which the company has control over.
Opportunities and threats, on the other hand, are external factors over which the company
has no control. A successful organization builds on its strengths, overcomes its weakness,
identifies new opportunities and protects against external threats.

3. Forming quantitative goals: Defining targets so as to meet the company’s short-term and
long-term objectives. Example, 30% increase in revenue this year of a company.
4. Objectives in context with divisional plans: This involves setting up targets for every
department so that they work in coherence with the organization as a whole.
5. Performance Analysis: This is done to estimate the degree of variation between the actual
and the standard performance of an organization.
6. Selection of Strategy: This is the final step of strategy formulation. It involves evaluation
of the alternatives and selection of the best strategy amongst them to be the strategy of the
 organization. Strategy formulation process is an integral part of strategic management, as it
helps in framing effective strategies for the organization, to survive and grow in the
dynamic business environment.
7. Come to a decision: After analyzing the organization’s current status and hearing
everyone’s vision for its ideal future, it’s time to engage in open conversations and
debates. These discussions can lead to a unified vision that takes everyone’s perspective
into account. When you build a strategic vision together, the team or organization is more
likely to be motivated and inspired to achieve the goals.
8. Effectively format the statement: It’s important to format the statement well when you
start writing it. You may keep the statement short and relevant by including only brief
sentences. You could even use a bulleted list to make the message even easier to
understand. It’s also important to make sure that the statement is realistic and motivating.
These traits can help encourage employees and increase success rates.

9. Get feedback: After you have written the strategic vision statement, show it to some
employees, outside consultants, key customers, and partners to get their feedback. If they
tell you something, try to answer their questions and concerns. This process can help
develop a more transparent, helpful, and inspiring vision.
10. Finalize and communicate the vision: Finally, after implementing feedback and
obtaining approval from all parties involved, it is time to express the vision to others.

If it’s for the whole organization, you can fully integrate yourself into the company’s
communication, marketing, sales, and any other promotional or investor materials. If the
strategic vision is specific to a team, call a meeting to discuss it.

11. Leave space for modification: It is best to give flexibility for modification when you
begin working toward the strategic objective. It allows you and others to implement new
strategies without affecting the overall goal.

You can motivate employees by trying out new policies, procedures, and processes. If one
strategy isn’t working, you can try a new one without straying from the main goal outlined
in the original vision statement.

2. Mission:

A Mission is about what the organization does to achieve the vision. A mission is an action
statement to achieve the vision. A mission statement is not required to be inspirational. Instead, it
provides a clear focus on what an organization does and what it doesn’t.

What should be included in a mission statement? What do you think a good mission statement can
look like for the above vision statement?

Let’s see the below example…

“To create and facilitate the development of value-added agriculture”

Here “Create and facilitate” are two clear focus areas. The organization put its energy into these
two areas. The organization makes efforts for the development (Create) and to ease (facilitate) the
agriculture business. And, whatever is not mentioned here, the organization is not involved. It is
a clear direction about what the organization does and what it doesn’t.

A mission statement is simple, direct and operative. Now the question is – how do you write a
powerful mission statement? What makes an effective mission statement? Let’s see the following
characteristics of a good mission statement:

 Short: The mission statement should be easy to remember. Each person in organizations
should be aware of the mission statement to use in context with the work he/she does.
 Simple: Mission statement language should be of everyday life. We do not use words like
stakeholder values, financial goals, and best practices in daily life. For example, a mission
statement – “Help people in achieving work using best practices.” How many people dream
about best practices? The answer is very few; do you believe, people talk in such a
language. The answer is ‘NO.’
 Operative: A mission statement should provide a clear direction. It should focus on what
an organization does. It also gives a clear route about initiative and resource allocation.

So, what kinds of resources needed for the mission statement mentioned above for the agriculture
business?

 Probably SME, who can provide their services for the development and facilitation of the
agriculture business.
 And farmers involved for the financial support in the venture.

A mission statement should help to understand:

 “Who we are”,
 “What we do”
 and to “which industry we belong to”

For example, mission statements like “Increasing customer satisfaction”. Well, it is impossible,
anyways – does it provide to which industry a mission belongs to? Or what the organization
controls? The answer is no, and hence we cannot claim it as a mission statement. An organization
should try to find out a mission statement, which can drive them.

3. Goals & Objectives:

Goals are statements of mileposts to achieve the vision. Goals describe – what you want to achieve
through your efforts.

An organization’s vision and mission combined offer a broad, overall sense of the organization’s
direction. To work toward achieving these overall aspirations, organizations also need to create
—narrower aims that should provide clear and tangible guidance to employees as they perform
their work on a daily basis. The most effective goals are those that are

Specific,

Measurable,

Achievable,

Realistic, and

Time-bound.

An easy way to remember these dimensions is to combine the first letter of each into one word:
SMART. Employees are in a much better position to succeed to the extent that an organization’s
goals are SMART.A goal is specific if it is explicit rather than vague. WestJet’s vision is that “By
2016, WestJet will be one of the five most successful international airlines in the world providing
our guests with a friendly caring experience that will change air travel forever.”

A goal is measurable to the extent that whether the goal is achieved can be quantified. WestJet’s
goal of being one of the five most successful international airlines in the world by 2016 offers very
simple and clear measurability: Either WestJet will be in the top five by 2016 or they will not.

A goal is aggressive if achieving it presents a significant (as opposed to easy) challenge to the
organization. A series of research studies have demonstrated that performance is strongest when
goals are challenging but attainable. Such goals force people to test and extend the limits of their
abilities. This can result in reaching surprising heights.

WestJet committed to growing responsibly and ensuring that it is an environmentally sustainable

airline, and supports the IATA goal of carbon neutral growth in its industry beyond 2020. WestJet
already operates one of the most modern and fuel-efficient fleets in North America.

Achieving carbon neutral growth will be a challenge for WestJet requiring the combined efforts of
the airline and its supplier partners such as aircraft manufacturers, airports and government. In
2012, WestJet reported that “Our significant investments in fleet and technology have greatly
improved our aircraft fuel efficiency and ability to operate our business more cost effectively.
Between 2000 and 2012, we improved our fuel efficiency by 44.8 per cent per revenue ton
kilometer. The resulting fuel savings are equivalent to the amount of fuel that would have been
used to fly a Boeing Next-Generation 737 from Calgary to Toronto and back approximately 44,135
times (based on our 2012 fuel usage).” (Quigley, 1994)

It is useful to know that easily achievable goals are not only easy, but they tend to undermine
overall motivation and effort by employees, Michelangelo said, “The greater danger for most of
us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving
our mark.” Consider a situation in which you have done so well in a course that you only need a
score of 60 percent on the final exam to earn an A for the course. Understandably, few students
would study hard enough to score 90 percent or 100 percent on the final exam under these
circumstances Similarly, setting organizational goals that are easy to reach encourages employees
to work just hard enough to reach the goals.

SM model

Environmental scanning is the monitoring and evaluating of information from the external and
internal environments to key people within the organization. The purpose is to identify the strategic
factors. These factors will assist in the analysis in deciding the strategic decisions for the
organization. However, the simplest way to conduct environmental scanning is through SWOT
analysis. SWOT is an acronym of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are strategic
factors for a specific organization.

The External Environment: Consist of variables (opportunities and threats) that are outside the
organization and not typically within the short-run control of the top management. These variables
form the context within which the organization exist. The key environmental variables that make
up the general forces within the natural and physical, societal, environments or specific factors that
operate within the organization task environment-the industry. These includes, socio-cultural
forces, economic forces, technological, political and legal forces. In these environments we have
the government, shareholders, suppliers, creditors, employees, special interest groups, employers
and labor unions, customers, communities and competitors.

The Internal Environment: This consists of variables (strengths and weaknesses) that are within
the organization itself and are usually within the short-run control of top management. These form
the context in which work in the organization is done. They include, the structure of the
organization, culture and the resources. The key strengths formed a part of the core competences
that the organization can use to gain competitive advantage. While the strategic management is
fundamentally concern with strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, the methods to
analyze each has developed substantially in the past decades. Organizations and its top
management do not only list the SWOT variables and have employees trying to populate the
organization but also allow them participate in the strategic decision making. Each of the four
elements is rich with the processes and techniques that will allow for a robust and sophisticated
understanding of the organization.

Strategy Formulation
Strategy formulation is the process of investigation, analysis and decision making that provides
the organization with the criteria of attaining a competitive advantage. This includes defining the
competitive advantages of the business (strategy), crafting the corporate mission, specifying
achievable objectives and setting policy guidelines.
Strategy Implementation
Strategy implementation represents the deployment of chosen strategy with a view to achieving
strategic objectives the transition from strategy formulation to strategy implementation usually
requires a shift in responsibility from corporate strategist to functional, strategic business unit
(SBU) and divisional managers. This process might involve changes within the overall culture,
structure and or the management system of the entire organization. The implementation of strategy
is typically conducted by the middle and lower-level managers with review by the top
management.
Strategy Evaluation and Control
Strategy evaluation is the process by which management determines whether strategic choice in
its implemented form has helped the organization meet its objectives Managers at all level used
the resulting information to take corrective action and resolve problems. Although strategy
evaluation and control are the final major element of strategic management, it can also pinpoint
weaknesses previously implemented strategic plans and as a result stimulates the entire process to
begin again.