Lecture 1

Introduction to Long-term planning

Introduction to strategic planning

Lecture objectives
At the end of the lecture, you should be able to:

•Define the meaning of strategic management

•Define the meaning of strategic plan
• Distinguish between strategic management and
strategic plan
• Understand the meaning of strategy and differences in
the levels of strategies
• Understand the motivations for doing long-term and
strategic plans
•Understand the model for doing a strategic plan
Understanding key concepts in long-term planning

Definition of strategic management

Strategic management is a management style

and/or a practice that continuously aligns the
internal situation of an organisation with the
changing trends from the remote, operating and
task environments.
Strategic plan

Strategic plan is an all-encompassing long term plan of

an organisation which spells out its vision, mission,
strategic goals, the specific game plan aimed at
achieving the goals, implementation plan as well as
plan of control, taking into account the internal and the
external influences from the operating arena.
Defining strategy

Strategy is a game plan used by senior management to

achieve the strategic goals of an organisation, based on
an understanding of the orgnisations’ capacity (e.g.
assets), the impact from the remote, task and operating
environment and the expectations of stakeholders.
Levels of strategy

Strategy as a game plan flows from the top level to the lower
level. The main levels of strategy are:
Ghana Post has a goal of making profit

1) Corporate level strategy– eg? The board does two things –

1) which business to achieve that profit and 2) which
market to operate to achieve that profit
2) Business level –eg?
3) Functional level –eg? HR, IT, Marketing, Procurement, etc
4) Operational level –eg? Teams/groups, etc etc,

Ecobank – 5-year strategic plan

Financial performance/profitability is one of our strategic
pillars
Corporate strategic – which business to do and which market
The motivation of strategic plan

Different organisations, from private to civil society, to

governmental bodies design strategic plan to achieve
different purposes. To synthesise, the following are
among the key driving forces that cut across
organisations.

•As tool for managing competition

•As an investment and fund raising tool
•A tool for risk management
•A tool for managing performance
The motivation of strategic plan cont.

•As a reward and compensation management tool

•As a succession planning tool
•As a negotiating tool
•As a tool for internal and external communication
•As a framework for recruiting senior executive
•A Growth and development framework
•A tool for management discipline
Strategic actions

Not all corporate actions are regarded as strategic. To

distinguish strategic actions from non-strategic ones, the
following characteristics are important.

•Long-term impact
•Top management approval
•Top management decision
•Affecting the entire scope of an organisation
•Huge financial investment
•Takes place at the corporate level
Strategic planning a military approach

Strategy is a concept originally known in the military setting

and the military approach presents a clear picture of how
strategy is to be drawn up. For instance, from the military
viewpoint it is known that during a war time, it is the duty of
the military leaders, say a senior commander to communicate
the main task and/or objective at hand (e.g. whether or not to
capture any enemy’s territory).
Strategic planning a military approach cont’

However, for the objectives to be achieved, it is also the

function of the leader to ensure that they have a clear
understanding of:
•The resource requirement (e.g. men, women, materials)
•The degree of the enemy’s power (the power of existing
competitive force)
•The strategy the enemy is likely to take based on their
move (competitive response)
Strategic planning a military approach cont’

•The best way to win (a plan/strategy)

•The time to start putting the plan into action and attack
(implementation timetable)
•Alternative response in case the plan fails (tactics,
contingency strategy)
•How to keep an eye on whether or not the plan is
achieving the expected results (M&E model)