A 3 page paper that discusses the strategic planning process. The paper proposes that all organizations must be involved in strategic planning for their own success. The writer identifies some of the tools/techniques that can be used for analysis, such as PEST, Porter's Forces, and SWOT. The paper explains the SWOT in more detail. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: MM12_PGstpwt.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
thinks it is ready to plan." Planning always begins by identifying the mission of the organization (NetMBA.com, 2007). An organizations mission is the reason for the organization to exist,
which is true for both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations (NetMBA.com, 2007). An organizations mission statements tells both employees and the public the organizations purpose. When the mission has been carefully
determined, establishing organizational objectives follow (NetMBA.com, 2007). Many organizations have problems identifying their objectives but if they remember that objectives are measurable and are intended to work towards targets, the
objectives will become easier to determine (NetMBA.com, 2007). The next step in strategic planning is to conduct an analysis of the organization as it is right then (NetMBA.com,
2007). The analysis will tell managers and others what their core competencies are and what they need to work on. There are two analyses to be conducted, an external environment
and an internal environment analysis. The external analysis is further separated into the macro-environment, which includes factors that relate to everyone, and the micro-environment, which identifies factors that affect a
particular industry (NetMBA.com, 2007). One of the most commonly used macro-environmental tools organizations use is a PEST analysis (NetMBA.com, 2007). The acronym stands for: political factors, economic factors,
socio-cultural factors, and technological factors (Marketing Teacher Ltd, 2009). One of the most commonly-used tools to analyze the micro-environment, i.e., the industry, is Porters Five Force analysis (NetMBA.com, 2007). The
five forces are: rivalry within the industry, barriers to entry into the industry, supplier power, customer power, and the availability of substitute products (NetMBA.com, 2007). There are many ways in
which an organization can conduct an internal analysis. This type of analysis considers the organizational culture, the image it projects, the structure of the organization, its operational capacity and efficiency,