Business Strategy
Task 1: The role that objectives play in the process of strategic planning
Strategic planning is the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organisation’s objectives and resources and the changing market opportunities. This is generally regarded as corporate planning because it deals with the whole organisation. The strategic planning should base upon clear objectives in order to define the direction of all other plans. In definition, “objectives are the specific outcomes that an organisation wishes to achieve by carrying out its activities.” Objectives are the expected outcome of programmes of activity, and therefore they play a central role in planning. The importance of objectives can be reflected in many aspects.
Firstly, they help an organisation to determine its operation fields and carry out strategy. Those organisations who regard maximum profit as orientation, they will probably put the profit in the first place when carrying out strategies with objectives. While those organisations who are customer oriented are likely to consider meeting customer satisfaction as their prior objectives.
Secondly, objectives are able to provide a collective management concept for all the employees in each level within an organisation. The previous director of IBM, Watson, once pointed that a successful organisation must rely on a collective spirit rather than mere funds to survive consistently in the market. A set of appropriate objectives therefore provides the precondition and focus for all activities.
The objectives can also mobilise the positivity within an organisation. The CEO of Colgate-Palmolive Company, Reuben Mark has illustra ...