Strategic planning is identifying the business's mission, goals, values, and operation.
Everyone company should have a strategic plan if they want the business to grow and be
successful. Apple uses its mission, goals, and values to build its strategy. Apple also uses
vertical integration as a corporate strategy for its company. This allows management to set
and make goal-directed actions to gain and sustain competitive advantage. Vertical
integration is one of the three dimensions of corporate strategy. a Vertical integration asks the
question of what stage of the industry value chain the company should participate (Singh,
2023). The value chain is the transformation of raw materials into goods and services. Apple
succeeded in the vertical model because it builds, controls, and manufactures all of its
hardware and software. Apple has increased its R&D budget to 16 billion dollars, which
accounts for 7.9% of total sales(Singh, 2023). Apple's strategy is on its product design, and
product function, strengthening its ecosystem, improving customer service, and reducing the
business's total reliance on iPhone sales. The construct of strategic planning seems to vary in
some cases. The basis however seems to keep the focus of the person/s who are involved in
the plan or company entity that has an explanation to what it is actually set out to
accomplish. The basis is the accomplishment the company is driven to achieve. Vision,
mission, and value are the root of the success tree but not always adopted in the culture of
the company. This is presumed and not always fact or true to the ambitions the company
may have. The idea is to handle the strategic planning realistically. This can make this tool
misunderstood if there are no clear examples of what is needed to accomplish the goals. The
lack of vision and goal that needs to be meet are outdated can cause bad habits. The lack of
a sound foundation to the goal such as subjective information rather than real information is
another. There is no room for an opinion when the objective should be factual. Follow-up
research and evaluations can be costly if the vision is blurred. This should always be a living
document so it can be modified and updated. They should be a laser focus. The company
cannot be everything to everyone so the visions and mission should focus have to be better
that the competition. How to be proactive when avoiding rick and leveraging opportunities.
This should have a flow from corporate planning to the business unit for goals and targets
that need to be met, to the performance of the employee's plan. Defining what strategy is can
benefit those who are unaware. The strategy should be clear. The lowest cost to the
company. The differentiation or uniqueness of the product to the market. The mergers and
acquisitions the company may have. The focus, the collaboration, the need to be first to
market. This all is what is strong in the strategic planning. This shows in Nike's
performance. Nike as a company show that it is operating in real time. The uniqueness of its
footwear and equipment speaks volumes. The act of creating these items out of recycled
materials is cutting edge. The collaboration between "Off White", Dior, Tiffanys & Co has
drawn others to attempt the same. The acquisition of Converse has boost revenue from the
iconic brand. This was not a takeover it was a strategic planning and Nike has successfully
laid a landscape and offered a blueprint. In strategic planning, the components necessary for
creating a strategic plan are strategic leaders from the organization, a SWOT analysis, a
vision statement, and goals the organization is trying to achieve. My chosen company is
GreatAmerica Financial Services and they use all of these things in their strategic planning
process annually. Each year the business leaders block time outside of the office to spend
two days as a team going through their SWOT analysis and updating things that had
changed since the prior year. From there, they review the five year vision statement and get
centered what their long term goals are. Lastly, they brainstorm and list out all the things
that they are seeing as opportunities in their red ocean and identify blue ocean opportunities
to possibly go after. All of this is done to vote on the highest prioritized items to enable them
to achieve their goals. Once the objectives are defined, action plans are created and front line
team members are identified to join the team and deliver. There are quarterly readouts to all
employees to share and emphasize what is being worked to help the company achieve goals
and offer updates and progress towards that achievement. I believe in strategic planning the
components that are necessary for creating a good strategic plan are SWOT analysis which
provide a company with a way to review their strength, weakness and how to achieve their
goals. Vision goals, which provides a way to see what the future will look like for their
business, a mission that is mainly their goals for the future. I chose Air BNB and they are
using the vision and mission statements to have their guest vacation anywhere using Air
BNB and create deep connections with the locals. They also focus on SWOT analysis to see
where they are lacking and how they can improve themselves in the future. Air BNB is
known almost worldwide and is the best alternate lodgings for a vacation, it is cheaper than
staying at a hotel for your extended stay. It allows the guest to stay closer to the city and be
able to mingle freely with the person that lives there. Some of their weaknesses that they are
working on is the quality of some of the properties the hosts offer and an easier way to find
them I think that in strategic planning the components that are necessary would be, A SWOT
analysis, which we learned about in the last few weeks which helps the company to learn
their strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A Vision statement because it
provides a short summary highlighting what your business with look like in the future. Goals
and Objectives, short term and long-term goals as they relate to your overall business vision.
I choice Walt Disney for my company and they have done some strategic reorganization
with the company in 2005. They are strategically positioning their business for the future
creating a more effective, global framework to serve consumers worldwide, increase growth
and maximize shareholder value. They had a goal of making media networks which we now
know that they have done with the Disney channel and also the Disney plus streaming app.
I'm not too sure how good of a job they do with commutating their plan with the workforce
I'm sure if you are part of the CEO or the people that are high up that you know about their
plans but I'm not too sure about the other people that work for them. Strategic planning is a
vital component for effective management of an organization, and consideration of elements
such as vision, goals among others, will result in high productivity. Your strategic plan is the
document that shapes the specific activities you'll undertake to overcome the challenges you
face on the way to your goals. It spells out the logical steps you will take to lead you from
the start to the finish of your endeavor. SWOT are very important components in having a
strong strategic plan. My chosen company Netflix has been the leading streaming service for
years. Netflix is constantly striving to build its customer base by reaching more countries
around the globe. They keep and gain new customers by keeping a wide array of movies and
series available along with using customer preferences. Offering new and recent releases of
movies and tv series is another way to create new and repeat customers. Netflix has started
to implement cracking down on password sharing among households. With their convenient
options to stream making their services available to use wherever whenever, stopping
password sharing will push for new accounts created by these users creating increased
revenue. In the development of an organizations strategic plan, it is necessary to evaluate all
components to ensure the alignment of your organizations culture, goals, and vision is
considered. The plans focus is to develop future growth and development within the
operating elements of the organization, to ensure that all areas of concern are encompassed
within the plan to alleviate the possible issues that may arise. The Tesla organization utilizes
their vision and culture to develop strategic plans for future growth into new markets while
developing new products for sustainability in the energy sector. I believe the Tesla
organization utilizes these tools incredibly well, the understanding the organization has with
internal development is something that sets them apart from others. Tesla continues to
innovate new technologies and ideas to promote positive growth and sustainability while
eliminating risks associated with the production of electric vehicles and energy storage
products. I believe that Tesla utilizes a strategic plan for internal employees as well, the
company promotes innovation within the organization as a way to utilize the ideas of its
employees to develop new technologies. This is something that will continue to sustain
Tesla with new products and ideas pushing them further than other manufacturers and
suppliers. When it comes to businesses formulating a plan there's no better tool than
strategic planning. In order to alleviate complexities and minimize continued problems, it is
important to follow the strategic planning process and focus on elements that make up an
effective strategic plan. The focus on strategic planning process but here are some of the
intensity of your planning process. The essential elements you need to consider when
carrying out your strategic plan is vision, mission, short term goals, SWOT analysis, and
most of long term goals and annual objectives. These elements are crucial to understanding
the problem at hand and landscape in which you operate. By accounting fro each of these
elements, you are assuring the rest of your organization that you have looked deeply into the
issue, accounting for any issues or concerns that might be had. The main components of a
strategic plan is a vision of where it is headed, a set of performance targets, and a strategy to
achieve them. Which all these elements you can not go wrong. In strategic planning all
components are very necessary as the structure of the plan should be based on the
foundation of the culture which is created based on visions of achievements within the
organization. The strategy used at my chosen company is directly sewn into dedication to
employee consumer as well as the gratified outcome of financial gains.
The methods used to endure strategic operations with successful monetary gains and
customer and employee relations. When it comes to communication, the organization does
very well with delivery to the workforce as through inner-organization programs that interact
with the employees with participative remedies.
The relationship the organization has with the employees are connected which is greatly
communicated through the active programs with employee and community as well as overall
environment. One such program such as Community Development which involves
employees volunteering within their community which helps strengthen and improve
organization status and achievements. Also as the organization is involved in the
communities with the employees there are also focus directly on employee support programs
such as occupational health that address psychological risks in the workplace with focus on
the welfare of employee at work and at home. The company does a great job of
communicating the plan to the workforce.
Strategic planning is needed for a company to continue to look at ways to grow and improve
their organization. A strategic plan helps an organization to function more efficiently as a
team as well become more collaborative and innovative. With the constant changing of
products, strategic planning is important to stay relevant and maintain a competitive edge on
the competition. Some of the components I feel are necessary are knowing your strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Netflix has been the leading streaming services for
years with sales boosting during the covid-19 time frame. However, they have dropped from
twenty-none percent to twenty percent recently (Burch, S 2021,April 5). A strategic plan as
how to attract and retain current customers is important because losing customers and and
not gaining new customers will ultimately continue to effect their sales and revenue.
Knowing what their strengths are such as offering customers convenient ways to stream. As
well as offering a variety of movies and shows based on customers preference. Another
strategic planning that would be useful is knowing what the mission and vision is. Netflix is
strives to reach a broader audience outside of the US. Netflix expanded to close to every
major market outside of the US .As they expand, they are now streamlining their streaming
service by cracking down on households who share their passwords. They are
communicating their goal of building a solid relationship in the streaming world. The
components I would consider necessary for creating a strategic plan in strategic planning
would be the vision, mission, short term goals and long term goals, and the SWOT analysis.
Strategic planning is essential to businesses when formulating a plan. It is very important to
follow the strategic planning process. My chosen company is Apple. Apple business strategy
consist of elements such as focusing on product design, strengthening Apple's ecosystem,
improving consumer service experience, and reducing the business's reliance on iPhone
sales. Apple's vision statement is "To make the best products on earth and to leave the world
better than we found it". Their mission is is to bring the best user experience to it's
customers through innovative hardware, software and services. Apple's short term goal is to
maintain supply and provide excellent service to customers. As far as their long term goals
they have a variety of those including opening more online and brick and mortar stores.
Apple has a comprehensive communication plan and they do a very great job at
communicating their plans to their workforce. Poor communication in an organization can
lead to a number of disastrous outcomes and it is in the best interest of management and
leadership to promote effective communication across all departments. This said, is it
possible that poor communication has become a scapegoat term when things do not go right?
I believe it is very possible to do just that. I have been involved in projects that did not yield
the expected results and the first reason that was provided for the core reason was poor
communication. After further investigation, it was found that lack of communication had
very little to do with the problems. In some occasions, it was lack of documented processes
to execute the activities, in other cases, it was lack of required knowledge or skills in the
workforce. At the end of the day, communication was not the core issue with the project
failure, but that is not what was conveyed to corporate leadership.
Of course, one communication is blamed, you have the "expected" response from leadership
to establish and maintain proper communication, to increase the number of meetings, or
even worse...additional training!!! In the meantime, the core issue is not identified and
chances are that problems will arise later one. So what can we do? First, I believe that as
managers we need to assess whether or not lack of communication was the real reason for
failure. Talk to multiple staff members and asked then what could have been better. Find out
whether it is an existing process that may be outdated, or lack of a process altogether. If the
issue is identified and corrected, then the organization will be in a better place.
