Is it possible to run a successful business without having A Strategy? Some business owners will say “Yes.” However, these managers rather talk about short term goals and plans to get immediate profit. This is not what strategic planning is about. A strategy is not just a list of company goals. A comprehensive and effective strategy often includes mission, values and strategic vision of the company, as well as methods and ways to achieve strategic goals. It is very easy to write down certain goals for the company and then call it a strategy. If you’re planning to earn a particular amount of money in half a year such a goal can be hardly called strategic. Strategy is more than just to generate profits. As already said above, an effective strategy should include company mission and values. Top managers and ordinary personnel should know answers the questions like “where will we be in several years?” “who are our customers and what of their needs?” “what is our mission?” “what are our values?” Of course, this is not a full list of questions to be answered. Most experts in business agree that it is impossible to achieve success without proper strategic planning. This article we’ll focus on advantages of strategic planning in various organizations.
Perhaps, the first the most important advantage is possibility to solve problems before they occurred. If a company is ready to face challenges that will most certainly overcome any difficulties since they will not be unexpected. Sure thing, it is impossible to forecast all problems and changes in the market. At the same time strategic planning can locate those factors and business areas where problems might show up. In such a way the company will have a number of counter actions and decisions that will fight against negative consequences of such changes and challenges. Thus, the problem will not grow and turn into a business disaster. For example, if a company expects certain moves from competitors it may plan certain decisions that will protect it from rivals. This way, a strategy is a kind of protection for the company.
The second advantage is gaining of competitive advantage in the market. A strategy is often customer oriented which means that the company thinking of the ways to meet customer demands and preferences. Through market research it is possible to find out what customers they supply them with the exact products they want. This is like looking in the future and developing and designing products that do not exist yet but which will be popular in future. It is important that financial and customer strategies do not conflict. It may happen that complete satisfaction of customer needs may result in great losses for the company since every customer would like to get quality products at discounted prices.
Finally it should be mentioned that a strategy gives the filling of stability and sell confidence. The company was an effective for at does not depend much on external circumstances as it is ready for challenges.