Decision Making, Planning, and Strategic Planning.
Abstract
Ask five or ten different people for a definition of strategic planning or decision making or even planning and you will probably receive five or ten different answers. Most agree that strategic planning is a way to identify long-term goals and to direct your company toward fulfilling those goals.
Most also will agree that decision making is a cognitive activity involving the interplay of environmental cues and human cognitive processes, culminating in the selection of one or more possible choices of action (Wickens, 1992). Of course, not with the same wording, but we can translate that to choosing the best option or options from all available alternatives.
The reason why everyone doesn 't come up with the same or similar definitions is because not everyone thinks these subjects are of much importance.
We are about to find out how wrong or right they can be.
Discussion
If you want to stay in business and prosper, you better pay a closer look to what strategic planning is all about. There are many reasons why you should consider strategic planning, some of which we will notice in the article "When the true value hardware stores", written by Senior Writer of CIO.com Mindy Blodgett.
But, before we get into the article lets get a quick idea of why we should even think about getting into strategic planning. Technology and the fast pace of change are making business management more complex. Strategic planning will help you foresee and react quickly to market changes and opportunities and identify areas in which your business is lagging behind.
Competition is becoming tougher. In most cases, small businesses find themselves competing with much larger companies -- ones that know the benefits of strategic planning and practice it. From a defensive standpoint, it is important that you apply the same concepts to your operation.
Good financial control alone is not enough to ensure your business 's success. In addition to a budget, you need long-term goals to
Ask five or ten different people for a definition of strategic planning or decision making or even planning and you will probably receive five or ten different answers. Most agree that strategic planning is a way to identify long-term goals and to direct your company toward fulfilling those goals.
Most also will agree that decision making is a cognitive activity involving the interplay of environmental cues and human cognitive processes, culminating in the selection of one or more possible choices of action (Wickens, 1992). Of course, not with the same wording, but we can translate that to choosing the best option or options from all available alternatives.
The reason why everyone doesn 't come up with the same or similar definitions is because not everyone thinks these subjects are of much importance.
We are about to find out how wrong or right they can be.
Discussion
If you want to stay in business and prosper, you better pay a closer look to what strategic planning is all about. There are many reasons why you should consider strategic planning, some of which we will notice in the article "When the true value hardware stores", written by Senior Writer of CIO.com Mindy Blodgett.
But, before we get into the article lets get a quick idea of why we should even think about getting into strategic planning. Technology and the fast pace of change are making business management more complex. Strategic planning will help you foresee and react quickly to market changes and opportunities and identify areas in which your business is lagging behind.
Competition is becoming tougher. In most cases, small businesses find themselves competing with much larger companies -- ones that know the benefits of strategic planning and practice it. From a defensive standpoint, it is important that you apply the same concepts to your operation.
Good financial control alone is not enough to ensure your business 's success. In addition to a budget, you need long-term goals to
References: Blodgett, Mindy. (1998). Game Plans : When the True Hardware Value Stores. Electronic article from CIO.com. Retrieved July 8, 2003, from: http://www.cio.com/archive/011598_game.html