Strategic Planning
STATERGIC AND OPERATIONAL DECISION MAKING
INTRODUCTION
The performance of contracting any firm or an organization is firmly bounded to the quality of operational decisions at the strategic level. Business intelligence (BI) software is applied at three different levels in the enterprise: strategic, tactical and operational. At the strategic level, BI provides performance metrics to management and executives, often in conjunction with a formal management methodology such as Balanced Scorecard or Six Sigma. Strategic business intelligence, one of the latest crazes, is generally called performance management (PM). Depending upon which analyst firm you subscribe to, PM might be preceded by a C for corporate performance management, an E for enterprise performance management or a B for business performance management (not to be confused with BPM, the acronym for business process management).
WHAT IS STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL DECISION MAKING
Modern organisations operate in an increasingly complex environment and the magnitude of the consequences of decisions at the strategic level demands high quality responses from the management. The ever-changing and turbulent internal and external environments of the organisation demands extreme sensitivity from the management in their reactions towards change. This often requires rapid response and the consequence of one course of action could be dramatically different from an alternative course of action.
Strategic decisions are a reflection of the attitude, values and expectations of the decision-makers at the top level. They have a long term effect on the direction and future activity of the organisation, and have resource implications, affecting decisions at the lower levels and initiating a wave of other, often lesser decisions (Hickson et al. 1986).
The uncertainties and complexities of strategic decisions direct the decision makers to reduce the infinitely large problem into a manageable one. This conversion to a
INTRODUCTION
The performance of contracting any firm or an organization is firmly bounded to the quality of operational decisions at the strategic level. Business intelligence (BI) software is applied at three different levels in the enterprise: strategic, tactical and operational. At the strategic level, BI provides performance metrics to management and executives, often in conjunction with a formal management methodology such as Balanced Scorecard or Six Sigma. Strategic business intelligence, one of the latest crazes, is generally called performance management (PM). Depending upon which analyst firm you subscribe to, PM might be preceded by a C for corporate performance management, an E for enterprise performance management or a B for business performance management (not to be confused with BPM, the acronym for business process management).
WHAT IS STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL DECISION MAKING
Modern organisations operate in an increasingly complex environment and the magnitude of the consequences of decisions at the strategic level demands high quality responses from the management. The ever-changing and turbulent internal and external environments of the organisation demands extreme sensitivity from the management in their reactions towards change. This often requires rapid response and the consequence of one course of action could be dramatically different from an alternative course of action.
Strategic decisions are a reflection of the attitude, values and expectations of the decision-makers at the top level. They have a long term effect on the direction and future activity of the organisation, and have resource implications, affecting decisions at the lower levels and initiating a wave of other, often lesser decisions (Hickson et al. 1986).
The uncertainties and complexities of strategic decisions direct the decision makers to reduce the infinitely large problem into a manageable one. This conversion to a