Thematic Head:Prof. Ogutu Martin
The focus of strategic management is corporate performance. Strategic management analyzes the major initiatives taken by a company's top management on behalf of owners, involving resources and performance in internal and external environments. It entails specifying the organization's mission, vision and objectives, developing policies and plans, often in terms of projects and programs, which are designed to achieve these objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the policies and plans, projects and programs. A balanced scorecard is often used to evaluate the overall performance of the business and its progress towards objectives. Strategy needs to start with stakeholders expectations and use a modified balanced scorecard which includes all stakeholders. Strategic management is an ongoing process that evaluates and controls the business and the industries in which the company is involved; assesses its competitors and sets goals and strategies to meet all existing and potential competitors; and then reassesses each strategy annually or quarterly to determine how it has been implemented and whether it has succeeded or needs replacement by a new strategy to meet changed circumstances, new technology, new competitors, a new economic environment., or a new social, financial, or political environment. One of the most significant reasons it's important to understand strategic management is that whether an organization's employees manage strategically does appear to make a difference in how well the organization Organizations that use strategic management concepts and techniques do have higher levels of performance. If it impacts the organization's performance, that would appear to be a pretty important reason to know something about strategic management and managing strategically. Another reason for studying strategic management is that organizations of all types and sizes continually face changing situations. These changes may be minor or significant, but there is still change to cope with. Being able to cope effectively with these uncertainties in the external and internal environments and achieve expected levels of performance is a real challenge. However, this is where strategic management comes in. Specialists in this area are preoccupied in assisting organizations to survive, grow and achieve other desirable objectives.
Prof. Ndemo Elijah B
