Introduction
Success in strategic planning requires an understanding of the organization, the environment in which it operates, its resources, competitors, vision and mission, and its capabilities on a day-to-day basis. How does one gain this understanding? Strategic thinkers evaluate changing environments, analyze data, questions expectations, and develop new ideas (Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne, 2013). Understanding and analyzing the situation requires analyzing the environments in which the organization exists and developing or refining the organization’s strategy (Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne, 2013). Various techniques and analyzes are conducted to identify these important considerations.
Engaging in the strategic planning process requires leaders to be aware of their organization’s internal operations as well as the external environment in which it operates. Various tools exist to aid organizations in the strategic planning process. The strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis is a common tool utilized to conduct an environmental analysis. An additional tool is Porter’s five forces model. This framework is utilized to examine the competition the organization faces in the environment in which they operate (Healey & Marchese, 2012). Other tools include mind maps and balanced scorecards. Data obtained via these analyzes and examinations will guide the organization in determining what it wants to do and what it is capable of doing (White, 2012).
