Business Strategy - Terminology, Planning Techniques and Tools
Business Strategy
Introduction
In this report I will be investigating what business strategy is all about, its context and terminology and the various issues involved in planning. I will look at the different techniques that can be used in strategic planning and will proceed to carry out an audit on my chosen business (Sega Corporation) using some of these techniques and analyse / evaluate my findings and offer any ideas or recommendations I might have.
“Planning means the deliberate and systemic determination of what to do in the future in order to fulfil the organisations mission and meet its objectives, given certain predicted or intended conditions” (Bennett, 1999) (1)
Strategic planning is a very important tool when it comes to the world of business. Planning is sometimes described as a philosophy rather than just a technique as it could not possibly be done properly in a business which was run by gut feeling and last minute decision making. Some of the main reasons for planning are to; implement strategies, facilitate management change, adapt to new technology, to facilitate growth of the business, to ensure all efforts of the business are directed to proper goals and to ensure that everyone in the business has a common understanding of their aims. Planning can be very useful when a business is thinking of investing large amounts of capital into a product or business idea and also when old products are nearing the end of their life cycles and new products need to be planned for and strategies put in place ready for their release. Of course problems can occur when using strategic planning methods and the benefit of having a plan could be outweighed the cost of problems that arise because of it. For example if the business has lack of knowledge when it comes to putting a plan together it might not be worth doing one at all as a misguided plan is not recommended. Resources are another issue as there is no point putting together a plan and then
Introduction
In this report I will be investigating what business strategy is all about, its context and terminology and the various issues involved in planning. I will look at the different techniques that can be used in strategic planning and will proceed to carry out an audit on my chosen business (Sega Corporation) using some of these techniques and analyse / evaluate my findings and offer any ideas or recommendations I might have.
“Planning means the deliberate and systemic determination of what to do in the future in order to fulfil the organisations mission and meet its objectives, given certain predicted or intended conditions” (Bennett, 1999) (1)
Strategic planning is a very important tool when it comes to the world of business. Planning is sometimes described as a philosophy rather than just a technique as it could not possibly be done properly in a business which was run by gut feeling and last minute decision making. Some of the main reasons for planning are to; implement strategies, facilitate management change, adapt to new technology, to facilitate growth of the business, to ensure all efforts of the business are directed to proper goals and to ensure that everyone in the business has a common understanding of their aims. Planning can be very useful when a business is thinking of investing large amounts of capital into a product or business idea and also when old products are nearing the end of their life cycles and new products need to be planned for and strategies put in place ready for their release. Of course problems can occur when using strategic planning methods and the benefit of having a plan could be outweighed the cost of problems that arise because of it. For example if the business has lack of knowledge when it comes to putting a plan together it might not be worth doing one at all as a misguided plan is not recommended. Resources are another issue as there is no point putting together a plan and then