Introduction
Strategic management involves the transformation of organizational resources into elements that can enhance the performance of the organization, mostly in their external business environments. Some of the effective approaches to strategic management include the specification of the organizational vision and mission, development of well-planned policies and effective allocation of resources in order to facilitate the realization of the stipulated goals and objectives of the firm.
Organizations are in dire need of strategic planning primarily because of the unpredictable trend of the global market place (Alkhafaji 78). The main objective behind strategic management is to uphold the competitive nature of business enterprise in the current dynamic and turbulent market place. This paper attempts to discuss two of the contemporary events that firms and organization can undertake during strategic management.
The two basic contemporary events undertaken during strategic management is strategy formation and evaluation, and strategy implementation (Hill & Jones 67). Both the steps are significant in determining the success of strategic management process in the current global market place. In most cases, strategy formation precedes strategy evaluation. If strategy formation and evaluation are effective, the implementation of strategic management will not be a significant challenge to the business enterprise.
Strategy formation typically entails option generation, which involves the establishment possible plan of approaches (Hill & Jones 89). Strategic formation is a sequential process, which begins by conducting a situation analysis for the organization, an evaluation of the status for the business enterprise and carrying out analysis of the competitors in the market place, which encompasses an analysis of both external and internal entities that affect the business enterprise.
Having carried an analysis, objectives are set in accordance with the long term and short term business requirements. Vision statements are also drafted, financial goals and strategic business objectives are set up. It is important that the proposed objectives put into consideration the results of situational analysis, as a result, facilitate the establishment of strategic plan (Alkhafaji 70).
The strategic plan should outline the process of the realization of the proposed objectives. Strategic evaluation on the other hand investigates the effectiveness of the strategic plan. It involves carrying out a SWOT analysis in order to determine the strengths and weakness of the strategy. The evaluation of potential threats and opportunities is also important during strategy evaluation. Strategy evaluation also entails the use of criteria such as suitability, feasibility and the acceptability of the plan (Hill & Jones 90).
The second event in contemporary strategic management is strategic implementation of the plan, which entails the putting of the proposed strategic plan into action. Strategic planning depends on strategic evaluation, after the choice of effective plan of approach that clearly outlines the goals and objectives of the contemporary strategic management.
Some of the activities undertaken during strategic implementation include change management, evaluation of the limitations of the plan of approach and eventually analyzing the benefits or drawbacks realized after implementation. It is also important to analyze economic factors such as returns on investments, the effects that the plan has on overall productivity of the business enterprise (Hill & Jones 96).
Conclusion
It is important for strategic plans to put more emphasis on outcomes. An organization should therefore practice strategic management on a continual basis in order to meet the changing needs of the business enterprise. The realization of this is through the evaluation of strategic management strategies using variables such as feasibility, acceptability and its suitability in the current business context.
Works Cited
Alkhafaji, Abbass. Strategic management: formulation, implementation, and control in a dynamic environment. London: Routledge, 2003.
Hill, Charles and Gareth Jones. Strategic Management: An Integrative Approach. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 2007.x