Search results

Despite 40 years of research by many social science disciplines, the conduct of planning in the business firm is not well modelled or understood. For marketers, this presents a particularly important problem. Marketing planning is particularly susceptible to the heirarchical nature of the planning process and the need to develop both deliberate and emergent plans. Since marketers provide the interface between the firm and its markets and customers, they must provide the essential strategic and tactical planning direction to the firm's overall strategic planning process. Marketing planning has a strategic and tactical component. Marketers must be precise with their use of terminology, being careful to identify exactly what they mean when they use the terms planning, marketing and strategy.

The aim of this project was to investigate whether combinations of strategies, planning modes and levels of autonomy are associated with superior college effectiveness relative to other combinations of these variables. It was hypothesized that a college pursuing a prospector strategy ‐ with an emphasis on continuously seeking new client segments and/or developing new offerings ‐ would be more effective with longer‐term and more externally oriented planning, and with more autonomy for its dean. Conversely, a college pursuing a defender strategy ‐ relying on traditional client segments and offerings ‐ would be more effective with shorter‐term and more internally oriented planning, and with less autonomy for its dean. Generally, the hypotheses pertaining to the prospector‐type strategy were supported, while those involving the defender strategy were not supported. Discusses implications for practitioners and researchers.

Strategic planning and strategy implementation are proposed to impact overall performance. However, the purpose of this study is to empirically examine the mediating effect of organisational excellence on the relationship between strategic planning, strategy implementation and organisational performance (OP).

Hypotheses have been developed for testing using primary data obtained through a survey questionnaire. The data were gathered from the Dubai police organisation. Out of a total of 500 questionnaires, only 244 questionnaires were returned. For measurement and structural models, the structural equation modelling (SEM) approach was used to analyse the data.

All proposed hypotheses were supported and confirmed the positive and significant relationships between strategic planning, strategy implementation, organisational excellence and OP. Statistical findings using SEM-partial least square also confirmed the mediating role of organisational excellence as a mechanism between strategic planning, strategy implementation and OP.

Results discussed many valuable implications. The outcomes will help managers, decision-makers and practitioners to consider organisational excellence strategy when implementing strategic planning process to achieve the best performance.

The current study is one of the most important empirical studies to analyse and examine the relationships between strategic planning, strategy implementation organisational excellence and business performance. In addition, this study is one the rare studies that involve excellence as a practice when implementing strategic planning process.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of literatures and previous studies on the relationship between strategic planning and performance and propose conceptual designs and hypotheses using multidimensional constructs to advance the understanding of this relationship, contribute to existing debates in the extant literature and make recommendations.

A semi-systematic literature and previous studies (studied by various groups of researchers within diverse disciplines) review approach has been used in this paper to contribute to the debate on whether strategic planning affects performance and how. Using more recent knowledge about the strategic planning concept, the semi-systematic review looked at how research within strategic planning has progressed over the past five decades and its relationship with performance.

In the past, the strategic planning performance relationship has been treated as a black box and this paper proposes that the conceptualisation of a number of constructs and the inclusion of strategy implementation will help converting the black box into a white box. To strengthen support for the debate regarding the relationship between strategic planning and performance this paper proposes a further conceptual/operational design, mathematical expressions and hypotheses to be tested empirically in further studies. The proposal provides a conceptualisation of the major constructs (strategy development; strategy implementation; and performance), and the use of strategy implementation as a mediator and/or as a moderator in the planning performance relationship.

This study is limited due to fact that the findings have not been tested empirically, it is not a cross-sectional and/or a longitudinal research and only a limited number of dimensions of strategy development and strategy implementation have been used. In addition, the approach used is a semi-systematic review followed by quantitative thinking, which, in turn, typically assumes the relevance of and a warrant mainly from a positivist epistemology.

The proposed design developed in this paper ensures that core issues in planning performance relationships research are addressed. Furthermore, the inclusion of strategy implementation in planning performance relationship studies means that the whole chain of activities in the strategy process is being considered, drawing a complete and comprehensive conclusion on how strategic planning affects an organisation’s performance. In addition, by separating strategy implementation and by not combining it with formulation/formation activities will theoretically and analytically help to evaluate the importance or role of each stage of the strategy process. Moreover, the conceptualisation and operationalisation of the key concepts as multidimensional constructs contribute to past research gaps. Finally, this paper provides some clarity to many contradictory findings concerning the strategic planning and performance relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and propose a taxonomy of approaches to the strategic planning of knowledge management (KM). The concept of KM strategy is relatively recent and has been developed based on the assumption that any KM programme requires the definition of long-term goals, resources and plans, i.e. a KM strategic planning. Empirical evidence shows that the conditions for the successful implementation of KM can change from a company to another and in relation to the external context, and this may call for different appropriate approaches to KM planning.

By drawing inspiration from the classic literature about strategic planning and combining it with the KM literature, a taxonomy of four possible approaches to KM strategic planning is developed. This taxonomy is based on the combination of two dimensions, namely: the nature (rational vs emergent) of the planning process, and the competitive factors (internal vs external) that drive the strategy formulation. Examples of companies, drawn from an analysis of recent case studies based on secondary data, are then provided, with the purpose to depict the features of each KM strategic planning approach, as well as asses the consistency and usefulness of the formulated taxonomy.

The analysis of available empirical data shows that the proposed taxonomy fits cases that can be found in real life. The two dimensions of KM strategic planning previously presented allow to highlight the differences in the behaviour of companies. This can provide important food for thought for strategic thinking applied to KM, and can also reinforce the link between KM and other areas of management.

The awareness that companies can follow different approaches to KM planning is important for executives that consider KM as a primary activity for their companies. In particular, in the case of an emergent KM strategy, managers should be able to recognize it, and, as far as possible, to align it with the company’s overall strategic goals.

To date, the literature has primarily focused on the definition of different types of KM strategies, while the process that can lead to the formulation of these strategies has been less studied. The paper aims to fill this gap by identifying, discussing and classifying different possible approaches to KM strategic planning that a company can adopt.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between the components of the management control system (MCS) based on the reform process of the management system of China Resources Group and the influence of these components on the implementation effect of MCS.

This study uses an exploratory research method and an open-ended grounded theory approach to conduct six formal investigations and several in-depth interviews with employees and senior management in China Resources Group. This paper supplements these data by performing a documentary analysis of the internal documents of China Resources Group such as the statistical yearbook, business plan and meeting records.

This study puts forward four propositions. The formal strategic planning process creates an application environment for the strategy map and balanced scorecard (BSC), making it easier for an enterprise to adopt these tools. The combination of the strategy map and formal strategic planning helps to build the logical relationship between strategic goals and budget goals and strengthens the correlation between budget and strategy. In diversified organizations applying MCS, the strategy map and BSC facilitate the implementation of the strategy for specialized business units, while the financial measure system facilitates the implementation of the strategy for diversified business units. Strategic boundaries based on financial measures in the MCS help organizations determine the scope of strategic choices before implementing strategies.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability and the influence of the strategic planning process on budget participation, budget slack and other budget behaviors has not been fully discussed. Therefore, future studies are expected to provide more evidence regarding strategic planning and budget behaviors.

Before establishing a strategy map and BSC, the enterprise should consider the application environment to ensure their feasibility and legitimacy and construct the BSC system under appropriate conditions. A formal strategic planning process should be formed within the enterprise; that is, a set of detailed management methods should be adopted and clear rules should be used to support the enterprise management control process. The enterprise should add strategic boundaries to the MCS to determine the scope of strategic choices and the budgeting bottom line.

This paper sheds light on the impact of the formal strategic planning process on the organization and contributes new evidence on the key success factors for implementing the strategy map and BSC, enriching the researchers’ understanding of the applicability of the BSC.

The dynamic environment in which the academic library operates requires explicit links between business strategy and a new management priority including the development of people; this is the focus of human resource development (HRD). It serves the needs of an organization by ensuring that employees’ expertise is state-of-the-art, something that is critical in a period of rapid technological development coinciding with ever-expanding societal needs. HRD can be relied upon to support and shape a wide range of academic library initiatives requiring a competent and engaged workforce by recognizing people as the organization’s most critical asset, one that drives competitive advantage and helps it out-perform the market. Emphasis is placed on developing an organizational context that will attract and develop talented individuals and leaders and keep them engaged. Furthermore, HRD activities must respond to job changes and integrate staff skills sets with the long-term plans and strategies of the organization thus ensuring the efficient and effective use of resources. This chapter explores HRD as a strategic concern of the organization and how it can best serve the organization in the long term. In so doing, it considers how HRD can help the academic library focus resources in those areas where there are strong likelihoods that they can produce substantial improvements in future capacity and performance. This kind of strategic planning helps the organization configure resources within a dynamic competitive environment, thus serving market needs and satisfying stakeholder expectations, helping meet its business purpose and maintain its strategic direction. The case study developed here highlights the need for the effective linkage of HRD and strategic planning for the advancement of the academic library. It suggests the need for developing and implementing both a strategic plan and an HRD plan and developing a culture of strategic human resource development (SHRD) in academic libraries.

The Nature of Business Policy Business policy — or general management — is concerned with the following six major functions:

Throughout the 1960s the marketing concept was a dominant guideline that became a pervasive force within the entire organization. Strategic planning, with its emphasis on the formulation of the business mission, the identification of strategic alternatives, and contingency planning, became the direction of the 1970s. Therefore, it is surprising to find, after all this emphasis on the identification and satisfaction of customer needs and the necessity for planning and strategy, that few organizations have found a way to link future planning with marketing planning and strategy. Futuristics is the science or art of anticipating and planning for the future. In most firms, strategy is still developed for less than a threeyear period. There are only a small number of companies that have been able to link planning with the development of strategy in a time frame of more than five years. These firms have come to realize that: Business decisions have grown more complex as a result of a changing marketing environment, The only way to ensure profitability and survival is to provide an organizational structure that can develop long‐range planning.