Strategic Planning at Ups
: Strategic Planning at UPS
(a) First, as an outstanding aspect of strategy and scenario planning, the continuous review of the process has to be men-tioned. The process of scenario and strategic planning is improved over the years and shows a learning curve within the UPS organization, e.g. the perspective of company outsiders is considered for the horizon to 2017. Besides this virtue, the use of dramatic presentations to visualize the scenarios can be evaluated as good. The establishment of a common basis and vocabulary for discussions through scenarios are further success factors. Moreover, the two-step process of the Centennial Plan and the Strategy Roadmap draw the link between a broad vision and execution by using quantitative measures. Top-level support from the CEO ensured success of the strategic planning initiative. Finally, the appointment of a Chief Implementation Officer (McDevitt) resulted in success of strategic planning at UPS. In general many tenured managers as well as their young successors were involved to the planning process and contributed to the success by bringing in their experience.
In addition to the favors there also exist drawbacks. The first possible improvement regards the presentation used in the plan-ning process of 1997. Dramatic presentations might bias participants of the meetings to one scenario, e.g. “brave new world” gets too much focus. As a consequence, the ability to think about other strategies gets limited. Another questionable point is the high influence of the CEO on the planning process because improvement of results is more likely in a decentralized planning structure. The last point to be mentioned here is the lack of commitment to the purpose of scenario planning throughout the organization. The purpose and use of it should be explained to all participants across the hierarchy.
(b) The UPS purpose answers the question why UPS should exist precisely. Additionally, the mission statement provides context for all
(a) First, as an outstanding aspect of strategy and scenario planning, the continuous review of the process has to be men-tioned. The process of scenario and strategic planning is improved over the years and shows a learning curve within the UPS organization, e.g. the perspective of company outsiders is considered for the horizon to 2017. Besides this virtue, the use of dramatic presentations to visualize the scenarios can be evaluated as good. The establishment of a common basis and vocabulary for discussions through scenarios are further success factors. Moreover, the two-step process of the Centennial Plan and the Strategy Roadmap draw the link between a broad vision and execution by using quantitative measures. Top-level support from the CEO ensured success of the strategic planning initiative. Finally, the appointment of a Chief Implementation Officer (McDevitt) resulted in success of strategic planning at UPS. In general many tenured managers as well as their young successors were involved to the planning process and contributed to the success by bringing in their experience.
In addition to the favors there also exist drawbacks. The first possible improvement regards the presentation used in the plan-ning process of 1997. Dramatic presentations might bias participants of the meetings to one scenario, e.g. “brave new world” gets too much focus. As a consequence, the ability to think about other strategies gets limited. Another questionable point is the high influence of the CEO on the planning process because improvement of results is more likely in a decentralized planning structure. The last point to be mentioned here is the lack of commitment to the purpose of scenario planning throughout the organization. The purpose and use of it should be explained to all participants across the hierarchy.
(b) The UPS purpose answers the question why UPS should exist precisely. Additionally, the mission statement provides context for all