Introduction to Strategic Management

Strategic Management is all about identification and description of the strategies that managers can undertake so as to achieve better performance and a competitive advantage for their organization. An organization is said to have competitive advantage if its profitability is higher than the average profitability for all companies in its industry.

The manager must have a thorough knowledge and analysis of the general and competitive organizational environment so as to take right decisions. Managers should use the results of the SWOT Analysis to make best possible utilization of the organizational strengths, minimize the organizational weaknesses, make use of arising opportunities from the business environment and shouldn’t ignore the threats.

They should conduct a SWOT Analysis which is an analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of an organization. Strategic management is nothing but planning for both predictable as well as unfeasible contingencies. Strategic Management is a way in which strategists set the objectives and proceed about attaining them.

It is applicable to both small as well as large organizations as even the smallest organization faces competition and by formulating and implementing appropriate strategies; they can attain sustainable competitive advantage. Strategic management is a continuous process that evaluates and controls the business and the industries in which an organization is involved. Hence, it is important to re-evaluate strategies on a regular basis to determine how they had been implemented and whether they were successful or do the strategies need replacement.

Strategic Management gives a broader perspective to the employees of an organization and they can better understand how their job fits into the entire organizational plan and how it is co-related to other organizational members. It helps the employees become more trustworthy, more committed and more satisfied as they can co-relate themselves very well with each organizational task.