The Strategic Management

THE STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT

You are living in the period of time that will produce more change for humanity than any previous era in history. It is a time of extraordinary importance that will fundamentally reshape almost every aspect of your life during the next two decades. Wholesale change is taking place in almost every segment of your reality-and the pace will only increase in the coming years.

The process of strategic leadership and decision making begins with an assessment of the environment within which it occurs. Strategy can be compared to a plan, except it is broader in scale, long term in nature, and surrounded by more uncertainties. The strategic choices of organizations-and nations-also may be limited by constraints imposed by their environments, e.g., the state of near-famine in North Korea. Both North and South Korea desire integration of the peninsula. However, the two concepts of how this would happen, and which political system would become dominant, are radically different. Thus, environmental factors are influencing capabilities for strategic choices that may not be fully played out for many years. Perhaps previous strategic choices by each of these nations, dating back as far as three or four decades, may well have shaped the constraints and opportunities in the present environment.

This concept of shaping the future is important for decision makers. Successful strategic decisions will, either by design or accident, shape both future conditions and the competitive advantage enjoyed by the organization or nation at that time.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

AN ATTRIBUTE OF AN ORGANIZATION OR INSTITUTION- OR NATION- THAT ENABLES IT TO COMPETE MORE EFFECTIVELY FOR RESOURCES, AND THUS TO SURVIVE.

THE STRATEGIC SCAN

The purpose of national security strategy is to set and achieve objectives that, in the long term, will provide a high level of security for the nation and its citizens. This purpose is expressed in a process that scans the strategic environment, forms an assessment, conceives long-range objectives, and formulates long-range plans to achieve them.

KEY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT

• WHO ARE YOUR MAJOR COMPETITORS?

• HOW COMPETITIVE IS YOUR ORGANIZATIONS FOR THE LONG TERM? wHY?

• WHAT ENHANCES/DETRACTS FROM YOUR LONG-TERM COMPETITIVENESS?

• WHAT CAN YOU DO/ARE DOING FOR YOUR STRATEGIC PLANNING TO REMOVE LONG-TERM OBSTACLES AND EXPLOIT ADVANTAGES?

• DO YOU ANTICIPATE MAJOR RESOURCES PROBLEMS FOR THE FUTURE? iF SO, HOW DO YOU PLAN TO DEAL WITH THEM?

• DO YOU SEE ANY THREATS TO YOUR LONG-TERM SURVIVAL?

This strategic scan is extraordinarily difficult, and examples of inaccurate scans abound. Some of these can be attributed to the fundamental difficulties involved in "seeing the future." It seems paradoxical to speak of an environmental