humn 8660

Tenea Lewis

HUMN 8660

Developing A strategic Plan

October 12,2020

Developing a Strategic Plan

An environmental scan is collecting and understanding relevant information by the stakeholders and on an organization or community to recognize external threats and opportunities. Efficient scanning observes both qualitative and quantitative changes in the organization. The plans for a successful environmental plan include; conducting a situational analysis using secondary information. It offers the foundation for recognizing the main issues and setting database priorities. The plan involves getting into and examining programs to get information. Important issues based on the secondary information are listed to help determine the requirements analyzed. Situational analysis is conducted using primary information from the main stakeholder groups. Here, the organization might conduct a one on one interview to acquire information (Guion, 2010). It helps recognize the prescribed requirements of the major stakeholders’ main problems. Mapping is then conducted to get primary information from the citizens with varying interests and opinions. After mapping, the primary data is collected, and issues that consistently came up. Assessments for the external assets are conducted to help recognize the unexploited individual talents and skills. The step fundamentally aims at making communities part of the solution and high priority issues addressed. The main issues' complexity and interdisciplinary nature are examined to plan effective programs (Guion, 2010). Finally, the combined programming plans to address the problems into the web-based priority issues program.

The success of an organization is dependent on the development and implementation of a strategic plan. The internal factors include the company finances, processes, culture, and staff of the organization. First, the finances have always been a standard for evaluating the performance of a company. Finances help establish and monitor and measure specific financial strategic goals on an integrated and coordinated basis, therefore enabling an effective firm operation. Secondly, culture can blunt the planned strategy implementation. Organizational culture affects decision making in the company. Many companies are uninformed of the cultural diversities, and therefore they are unable to implement strategic plans.

The main facet of the strategic plan implementation is the institutionalization of the plan to fill the daily actions and decisions so that it is dependable with the success of the long-term strategic plan. An existing culture may promote the success of new strategic plan implementation.

External factors of an organization include; customers, competitors, politics, and the economy. They are the uncontrollable factors that influence the performance of the organization. Most organizations cannot evaluate competitive rivalry, mainly due to the lack of a method to assess all competition dimensions. If the political environment of a business changes, it could have an impact on the business. Lastly, the customers need to run a company, and without them, the business will not survive and will be closed ultimately.

Strengths are resources that an organization uses effectively to realize its goals. They include; marketing, finance, and human resources. First, distribution channels are a firm’s strength in marketing, and customers can easily access the products. Therefore, differentiating the business from its competitors. Marketing enables the implemented strategies to be turned into action, thus leading to the organization (Kets de Vries et al., 2015). Secondly, an organization can transform if it has finances for research. Also, a company can borrow as designated by possessing a lower debt ratio. Financial metrics are used in a firm to assess its performance, therefore, enables the firm to establish and monitor the strategic objectives. Lastly, if a business can attract and retain the best staff members, it can beat its competitors. With the employees focused on their work, the company's strategic plans are enhanced.

Weaknesses are the limitations or the faults in an organization that prevent it from realizing its goals. Weaknesses include; production inefficiencies, poor brand, and financial weaknesses. First, low productivity may lead to losses because the clients will run to other competitors due to poorly produced products. Strategic planning will be affected by low production due to reduced sales. Secondly, an unrecognized brand name in the target market is a weakness to the business, making sales challenges. The low brand image leads to inadequate production and bad services. It can be a result of poor strategic planning. Social media helps promote brand image; therefore, companies with the poor brand image should review the social media strategy. Lastly, cash flow is limited by the high cost of conducting business (Kokemuller, 2019). Various companies require expensive materials, facilities, and equipment to manage. If an organization does not make enough money monthly to overcome the expenditure cost, generating a profit can be challenging. Financial weaknesses in organizations are mostly related to a lack of access to investors or loans. With no constant cash flow, the company cannot be eligible for a loan, and potential investors might be tempted to look elsewhere.

Threats are unfavorable situations in a firm's environment that damage their strategy. Threats in an organization include; high attrition rate, security issues, information loss, and work staff with a negative attitude. When talented and skilled staff quit and join competitors, the organization is more likely to suffer losses. Organizations must make sure that skilled employees stick with the organization by giving them rewards and recognizing them to get motivated (Juneja, 2015). Formulating crucial plans for a team in a company takes all the effort. Confidential data should not be shared with competitors. Friends in different organizations tend to share team policies and strategies about their respective companies. The ignorance causes not only the team but the whole company to suffer. Information about the company should be kept confidential at all times. Thirdly, poor working conditions lead to low production among the employees and might lead to the company (Juneja, 2015). organizations should appoint responsible security staff for the security of the firm and the safety of the workforce. It is the organization's critical responsibility to care for the employees and their needs to avoid low production.

Opportunities are favorable situations in a company’s environment that tend to increase the demand for a product and allow the company to increase its supply. They include; licensing, network marketing, and distributorship. First, a small business should consider dealerships to help sell other company’s products. Focusing on a single product to distribute may increase the business profits because clients will focus on one distributor for a particular product. Secondly, a parent company should have several network marketers through recruiting distributors. By forming a distributor network, a company can increase its profits through the remaining commissions made by the distributors (Morebusiness, 2018). Lastly, taking existing or new products and using talents to market products ensures high productivity.

References

Guion, L. (2010, August). A 10-Step process for environmental scanning. The Journal of Extension (JOE). https://www.joe.org/joe/2010august/iw2.php

Juneja, P. (2015). Common threats to an organization. https://www.managementstudyguide.com/common-threats-to-organization.htm

Kets de Vries, M., Carlock, R., & Florent‐Treacy, E. (2015). Family business practices: Assessing strengths and weaknesses. Family Business on the Couch, 39-62. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119209027.ch3

Kokemuller, N. (2019, January 28). Examples of company weaknesses. Small Business - Chron.com. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-company-weaknesses-69993.html

Morebusiness. (2018, October 24). 5 types of business opportunities for budding entrepreneurs. MoreBusiness.com. https://www.morebusiness.com/business-opportunity-leads/