Strategic Management Process Paper Essay Example for Free

Strategic Management Process Paper Essay The strategic management process consists of four major components; they are environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and evaluation and control. They each are broken down into their specific roles within the strategic management process. The Environmental Scanning is the monitoring, evaluating, and disseminating of information from the external and internal environments to key people within the corporation. An easy way to use this component would be SWOT, this acronym stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats and it shows the strategic factors for each individual company. The next component of the process is the Strategy Formula and that is the development of long-range plans for the effective management of the environment opportunities and treats, in light of corporate strengths and weaknesses, this process also relay’s on the SWOT process. This process helps define the corporate mission, helps specifies achievable objectives, helps develop strategies and helps setting policy guidelines. Strategies Implementation is the process of which strategies and polices are put into action through the development of programs, budgets, and procedures. This process can cause changes to happen within a company such as, overall culture, structure, and management system of the entire organization. When a corporate wide change is needed the implementation of strategy will be conducted by the middle and lower level management, and then the higher management team would review those changes. This can be called operational planning as well and that would implement day to day changes. The last process of the strategic management process is evaluation and control; this is the process which corporate activities and performance results are monitored so that the performance that is happening now can be compare to what is expected. This would apply to managers on all levels and  they use this information to take corrective action and resolve any problems. This part of the process can also pinpoint weaknesses in previous implemented strategic plans and can cause the process to start all over again (Wheelen Hunger, 2010). Strategic management is important for many reasons. First of all these processes help leaders to implement the vision and mission of the company, and what goals are needed to get the company where it wants to go. Typically created by the owner or top management in a company, the strategic management plan offers direction and guidance to the employees, sets up measurable goals and time lines and designates duties of all personnel. Marketing and sales projections are included in the strategic plan as well as plans to review the achievements of each department (Ray, 2012, p.1). BMW Strategic Process BMW is a German automobile and motorcycle manufacturer. BMW automobiles are considered luxury vehicles with endless amounts of options and expensive price tags. The company, which was at one time was severely struggling financially is extremely successful. The organization continues to sell more care almost every year, created strong brand recognition, and a loyal customer following. BMW created what they call corporate Strategy Number One; this includes plans for the future, survey results, and performance evaluations. The purpose of the strategy is to pursue the vision of being the leading provider of premium products and premium services for individual mobility (BMW Group†, n.d.). The strategy continues to describe the objective and how BMW plans to reach those objectives. To clarify the organization included the results from surveys distributed to stockholders and employees. The challenges the company faces were also clearly laid out, along with previous achievements. Conclusion After examining all the necessary elements to a strategic management process one can understand why each is necessary to achieve success. The elements work together and when done properly do so with little effort. However, to deflect any challenges from competition the elements need examining frequently to see if changes are necessary. BMW provides an excellent  example of an organization with solid strategic management. The organization has clear-cut processes and evaluates current process and is looking to the future. References: Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D. (2010). Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy Achieving Sustainability (12th ed.). Retrieved on September 15, 2014 from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database. Ray, L. (2012). Strategic Management Process, eHow Contributor. Retrieved September 15, 2014 from http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4964358_strategic-management-process.html BMW Group. (n.d.). Retrieved on September 15, 2014 from http://www.bmwgroup.com/e/0_0_www_bmwgroup_com/verantwortung/publikationen/sustainable_value_report_2008/_pdf/SVR_2008_engl_Kapitel_1.pdf