Michael Zetser: Four Key Components of Strategic Management

Serial entrepreneur Michael Zetser will be aware of the importance of strategic management and planning in achieving business goals and attaining corporate success. This article will explore the different stages of strategic management, identifying why strategic management and planning are fundamental to the success of any enterprise.

Without a clear vision and goals, effective communication and management of company efforts and resources can be extremely challenging. Ultimately, every business needs a plan in order to grow and thrive.

Strategic management helps companies to achieve their objectives and manage resources effectively. It is a continuous process of planning, monitoring, analyzing, and evaluating all decisions, items, and activities the company needs to successfully achieve its business goals.

The business world is constantly changing, with market conditions and technologies in a constant state of flux. In this context, it is vital for companies to assess and reassess their situation, weighing up the competition, setting goals, and formulating strategies to achieve their objectives based on available resources.

Effective strategy management involves a combination of short and long-term planning, accounting for both predictable and unexpected elements. Beneficial for small and large businesses alike, strategic management streamlines business functions to work together in harmony.

The key elements of strategic management include:

Formulation

Assessing the environment in which the business operates, then creating a strategy to determine how the organization will compete.

Implementation

This stage involves deploying organizational resources to meet specified business goals.

Core Competence

Businesses need employees with the right mindset, experience and expertise to help them rise above the competition. By building strong teams, businesses place themselves in the best possible position to build unique and unparalleled products and services, propelling them to the top of their market.

Experience Curve

This element expresses the principle that whenever output doubles, value-added costs decline by a consistent proportion.

Conclusion

Strategic management helps organizations to identify problems, recognize new opportunities, and initiate changes as necessary. It can be used to gain a competitive edge over other market players, as well as help business leaders to communicate organizational objectives by setting goals, monitoring performance against set objectives, and rewarding top performers.

Strategic management can be used to determine risks and develop strategies to avoid or overcome them. Once strategic management is in place, it is important to periodically review and reevaluate strategies, determining whether the desired results have been achieved or whether they still need to be worked on and identifying any aspects of the strategy that need to be tweaked.