Strategic management is the art,
science and craft of formulating, evaluating, and implementing major
programmatic decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its
long-term mission,
vision, goals
and objectives. It then involves developing policies and plans, often in terms
of projects and programs, and then allocating resources to support the organization’s
mission, vision, plans, policies, and major programs.
Strategic
management seeks to coordinate and integrate the activities of the various
functional areas of a business in order to achieve long-term organizational goals
and objectives. Strategic management is the highest level of managerial
activity. Strategies are typically planned, crafted or guided by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), approved or
authorized by the Board of Directors, and then implemented under
the supervision of the organization's top management team or senior executives.
Back in 1982, Tom Peters and Robert
Waterman released a study that asked “What makes an excellent company?” They looked at 62 companies that they thought
were fairly successful. They concluded in In Search of Excellence that
there were 8 keys to excellence that were shared by all. They are:
- A bias for action — Do it. Try it. Don’t waste excessive time studying it with multiple reports and committees.
- Customer focus — Get close to the customer. Know your customer. Know the difference between your customer and concerned stakeholders.
- Entrepreneurship — Even big companies can act quickly in today’s fast changing world by giving people the authority to take initiative.
- Productivity through people — Treat your people with respect and they will reward you with productivity.
- Value-oriented CEOs — The CEO should actively propagate its key corporate values throughout the organization.
- Stick to the knitting — Do what you know well, but turn to other experts when needed.
- Keep things simple and lean — Complexity encourages waste and confusion.
- Simultaneously centralized and decentralized — Try to have tight centralized control, while also allowing maximum individual autonomy.
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