Strategy is a plan of action developed to achieve a specific goal or objective. Strategic business planning isn’t just for large companies. It’s also required for small and mid-sized companies. Strategic evaluation is the assessment process that provides executives and managers performance information about programs, projects and activities designed to meet business goals and objectives.
Corporate level strategies are developed to ensure that value is created in excess of its cost. The best business strategies will add more value than those of your competitors. This requires business leaders to identify where the opportunity for improvement exists and assess the company’s current capability to seize them using existing human capital resources.
When evaluating business strategies that have already been implemented, it’s important to look at the company’s business goals and objectives. Projects, tasks and activities are developed to move these goals and objectives forward, which is best achieved by what Management review calls the SMART criteria: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-limited. This will give management the opportunity to set milestones and asses the progress toward strategic business goals and objectives. An organization’s performance data might be the key indication that business goals and objectives need to be reviewed and re-evaluated.
Strategic management can increase a small business’s effectiveness, but entrepreneurs first must have a process designed to meet their needs and their business’s special characteristics. Many companies make the mistake in attempting to apply a big business strategic development technique to a small business. Small businesses need a different approach to the strategic management process. The strategic management procedure for a small business should include the
