How Strategic Planning Helps In Ensuring The Survival And Growth Of An Organisation

HOW STRATEGIC PLANNING HELPS IN ENSURING THE SURVIVAL AND GROWTH OF AN ORGANISATION.

Undergoing the process of strategic planning can go a long way in helping to ensure the survival and growth of an organization it seeks to eliminate the weaknesses of an organization and to confirm its strengths. It also analyses the environment and other factors that might affect the smooth running of an org and tries to rectify them accordingly and also to give the organization competitive advantage.

Kevin Scholes and Gerry Johnson define strategic planning as "A sequence of analytical and evaluative procedures to formulate an intended strategy and the means of implementing it " In undergoing the process of strategic planning two sub-processes come into play which are namely BSTEP analyses and SWOT analyses , and these two make up strategic planning.

In BSTEP (Business: Socio-Cultural: Technological: Economic: Political) analyses the management will be analyzing the type of business there are in paying particular attention to their goals and whether there are achieving them and if their trade is viable. They also monitor their competitors behaviour and compare their standard of outputs as to their competitors, they then make sure that their standards are better than those of their opponents and this in turn ensures that they survive and grow as an organization because they will constantly keep their rivals under check .It also promotes alertness and competition thus driving them to produce better products/services.

BSTEP also pays attention to the socio-cultural side of their market which is also a key step in the growth and survival of an organization. Here the management will be analyzing and taking into consideration the values of their targeted market, for example if it is a clothing company such as Levi Strauss they should analyze the type of clothing that is allowed by the culture of their targeted market. If women are not permitted to wear trousers then they should concentrate on supplying skirts or dresses. This will ensure their survival and growth because they will always supply different markets with suitable products. This also gives the organization competitive advantage over other organizations that do not undergo strategic planning because they might run the risk of supplying a product that is cultural considered to be indecent or unappealing by the market and eventually run a loss.

Another consideration taken by BSTEP analyses is the fact that technology is dynamic therefore if an organization wants to survive and grow it should take into consideration the technological changes that will be taking place in their areas of interest and keep abreast with them. This will greatly help because it will ensure that the organization will always know about the cheapest and most efficient way of producing their products or services and implement them in their day to day operations. It will also give them competitive advantage over its counterparts because for example if there are two companies in the fuel procurement industry and one of them adapts the pipeline system of importing fuel whilst the others still use the tankers it will gain competitive advantage because it will take less time and there is less loss during transit and this will significantly contribute to their survival and growth as an organization.

Fourthly it focuses on the current economical climate, whether or not it will affect their operations. Here they look at factors like the inflation rate particularly of countries like Zimbabwe were the inflation rate is unstable , they also look at the current interest rate so as to know whether taking or issuing loans would be healthy for the organization. Here they also pay attention to the exchange rates and also the economic policy adapted by the country they are operating in. This would in turn provide the organization with sound knowledge on the financial course to embark on so as to attain a profit and keep afloat business wise thus ensuring its growth and survival.

The political and legal side of things is also another area of concern in BSTEP analysis as it also greatly helps in the survival and growth of an organization. Organizations analyze and make sure that their terms and conditions of service and trade are in line with the laws stated by the state. They also make sure that when certain laws that influence their operations are amended they also adjust accordingly so that they do not get caught at the wrong side of the law. It also analyzes which side of the political coin you are and if your products or services are safe and this helps in ensuring the survival and growth of your organization because it forewarns you if your current position is not safe, for example the Daily Newspaper and the Herald Newspaper. The Herald made sure it had registered with MISA as the new law stated but the Daily Newspaper did not and also the Daily Newspaper was on the other side of the political coin and thus led to its closure.

The second sub-process in strategic planning is the SWOT (Strengths: Weaknesses: Opportunities: Threats) analysis. This process combines both external and internal analysis of the organization. This process is also of paramount importance in ensuring the survival and growth of an organization because it also looks at the internal running of the organization as well as its environment and tries to place the organization at a position of advantage over other players in the same field.

SWOT analysis focuses on four things. Firstly it analyses the organizations strengths. Here the management will be looking at what the organization can do best as a whole whether it is consistency in a particular thing or in