Every year companies prepare their strategic planning, and it is common for organizations to get involved in this planning to develop, implement and evaluate strategies of a different nature.
But you may be thinking: is it worth embarking on a strategic planning process? The fact is that there are some advantages and disadvantages to this process, and this is what we will show you throughout this article. Keep reading!
What is strategic planning?
Strategic planning is the process that generates new ideas and actions that provide a central structure for the company to project its future. It is with him that the company decides today what it wants to be in the future, and how it intends to get there.
For this reason, you can have an immediate and decisive influence on your organization. But is it enough to apply some of the types of strategic planning for everything to turn out well? The answer is no.
There are advantages and disadvantages of strategic planning. And it is up to each company to carry out the appropriate process that helps it to benefit from all these advantages and avoid suffering the disadvantages that may exist.
Understand the importance of strategic planning
If your company is small, medium, or large, if you are not already planning the next steps and performing your actions well, stay tuned: you may be missing great opportunities to create a competitive advantage in your business.
A company that does not plan, does not know what it wants to achieve and does not direct its actions towards it. In practice, that is “management in the dark.”, and at best, it means stagnation.
No matter what your goal is, one thing is certain: any team that does not have good planning on its hands cannot act decisively. Developing a strategic vision for the future of your company brings benefits to both your company and your customers.
After all, it guarantees a healthy and stable growth of the business and, at the same time, manages to generate value for the public, that is, everyone wins.
So why not start now?
Advantages and disadvantages of Strategic Planning
5 advantages of strategic planning
1- Proactive and not reactive organizations
Strategic planning can help your business be more proactive than reactive in countless situations.
This type of document allows organizations to predict their future and be adequately prepared. In other words, organizations are better able to keep up with the ever-changing trends in the market, always staying one step ahead of the competition.
2- Establish a sense of direction
A strategic plan helps define the direction an organization should take. In addition, it helps to set realistic goals and objectives, which are aligned with the vision and mission of the company.
3- Increased operational efficiency
Well-structured strategic planning provides a kind of road map to align the functional activities of the organization to achieve the established objectives. It guides management discussions and decision-making to determine resource needs to achieve previously defined objectives and thereby increase operational efficiency.
4- Increase market share and profitability
A well-targeted and well-structured approach to transforming all sales and marketing efforts into the best possible results can go a long way to increasing profitability and market share.
5- Increased business durability
Many companies end up closing their doors very soon precisely because they have not been strategically prepared.
With markets increasingly globalized and in constant transformation, organizations that do not have a solid foundation, focus, and forecast will have difficulties in the middle of the road, being able to close their activities much sooner than one might think.
However, the chances are more favorable for those who have a solid and well-defined strategic plan.
3 Disadvantages of strategic planning
1- Application difficulties
Strategic planning includes various types of continuous processes that check all the major critical components of a business. Being a complex process, it requires a lot of patience, discipline, and persistence. And that, for some, can be a great disadvantage.
2- Time-consuming process
The implementation of strategic planning is not an overnight process. The management team of the company must take a long time to get the new processes correct.
Because it is a long process, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of strategic planning, immediate companies end up rushing. This type of thinking ends up sidelining the strategy, which can hurt the business much more soon.
3- High cost for small and medium enterprises
A good strategic plan can be expensive for small and medium-sized businesses or those just starting out. This is because additional efforts are needed, for example, to analyze indoor and outdoor environments.
In addition, some specific tools are needed to implement strategic planning accordingly, as well as the possible recruitment of competent personnel.
Frequently Asked Questions
1- What is the concept of strategic planning?
Strategic planning, or strategic plan, is the process of identifying opportunities, developing a strategy and defining actions to achieve organizational objectives.
2- What are the 4 stages of strategic planning?
Step 1: Construction of Premises or Foundations;
Step 2: Big Choices;
Step 3: Preparation of the Strategic Plan;
Step 4: Implementation and Monitoring of the Plan.
3- What are the objectives of strategic planning?
Strategic planning aims to guide and, when necessary, reorganize the company in the search for better results.
In this way, taking into account the company's entire history; Strategic planning aims to refine the entire journey of an organization.
4- How important is strategic planning for the company?
Strategic planning helps to understand changes in the external and internal environment, as it helps to recognize problems that may arise along the way and identify opportunities for improvement for the business.
5- What are the benefits of strategic planning?
The surveys foreseen in the development of planning broaden the horizons for the company's future; as they allow you to analyze competition, trends and threats in the market.
In other words, these factors directly affect the organization's revenue, increasing or decreasing resources.
Conclusion
An institution that manages to build and delegate good planning has a great chance of overcoming the adversities of the globalized world, managing to be a reference in the field in which it operates.
However, it is important to emphasize that a company that does not have its planning defined will end up being part of the group of “another institution with plans on file for the future”, running the risk of not having this “future”.
Furthermore, it cannot be forgotten that to achieve the desired objective of Strategic Planning, it is necessary to receive the support and commitment of the company's entire staff; because those responsible for the different phases of the process are the members of the organization themselves.
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