Financial and Strategic Management

What is the meaning and process of Strategic Management?

Strategic Management is a discipline that deals with the long-term development of an organization with a clear-cut vision about organizational purpose, the scope of activities, and objectives. It provides overall direction to the organization and includes specifying the organization’s objectives, developing policies and plans designed to accomplish these objectives, allocating resources for the implementation of such plans.

Strategic Management: Meaning and definitions

Strategic Management is a discipline that deals with the long-term development of an organization with a clear-cut vision about organizational purpose, the scope of activities, and objectives.

Chandler describes strategic management as the “determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise and adoption of course of action and allocation of resources necessary to carry out these goals.”

As per Glueck “That set of decisions and actions which leads to the development of an effective strategy or strategies to help achieve corporate objectives.

According to Paine and Naumes, “Strategic management involves the decision-making and the activities in an organization which (1) have wider ramifications, (2) have a long time perspective, and (3) use critical resources towards perceived opportunities or threats in a changing environment.”

Hambrick and Chen, “Strategic management is the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by a company’s top management on behalf of owners, based on consideration of resources and an assessment of the internal and external environments in which the organization competes.”

Therefore, it can be understood from the analysis of the above definitions that strategic management provides overall direction to the organization and includes specifying the organization’s objectives, developing policies and plans designed to accomplish these objectives, allocating resources for the implementation of such plans.

Michael Porter identifies three principles underlying strategy: creating a “unique and valuable [market] position”, making trade-offs by choosing “what not to do”, and creating “fit” by aligning company activities with one another to support the chosen strategy.

Strategic Management: Process

The strategic management process is defined as the process by which the managers’/decision makers’ are able to make a choice of a set of strategies for the organization that will enable it to accomplish improved performance. Strategic management is not a static but continuous process as it involves continuous appraisal of the micro and macro environment surrounding the organization and choosing between alternatives that meet the objectives and thereafter re-assessment of such strategy.  Strategic management consists of different phases, which are sequential in nature.

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Shreya Kushwaha

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