Prerequisites for the emergence of strategic management. Essence, goals and objectives of strategic management

Page 3 of 17

Reasons for the emergence of strategic management.

The emergence of strategic management in Russia is caused by objective reasons arising from changes in the nature of the environment for the activities of enterprises. This is due to the action of a number of factors.

The first group of such factors is due to global trends in the development of a market economy. These include: internationalization and globalization of business; the emergence of new unexpected business opportunities opened up by the achievements of science and technology; the development of information networks that make it possible for lightning-fast dissemination and receipt of information; wide availability modern technologies; changing role of human resources; increased competition for resources; accelerating change in environment.

The second group of factors stems from those transformations in the system of economic management in Russia that took place in the process of transition to a market economy model, mass privatization of enterprises in almost all industries. As a result, the entire upper layer management structures, which was busy collecting information, developing a long-term strategy and directions for the development of individual industries and industries, was liquidated.

You can have different attitudes towards the already non-existent sectoral ministries, planners However, it cannot be denied that, having a powerful network of sectoral and departmental institutions, they carried out almost the entire scope of work on the development of promising directions for the development of enterprises, transformed them into promising current plans, which were brought to the top performers. The task of the management of enterprises was mainly to carry out operational functions to organize the fulfillment of tasks lowered from above.

As a result of the rapid liquidation of the top layer of enterprise management, combined with privatization, when the state refused to manage the vast majority of enterprises, all functions that were previously performed by higher bodies were automatically transferred to the management of associations and firms. Naturally, leadership and internal organization enterprises were in most cases not prepared for such activities.

The third group of factors is associated with the occurrence huge amount economic structures various forms property, when a mass of unprepared for professional management activities workers, which predetermined the need for accelerated assimilation by the latter of the theory and practice of strategic management.

The fourth group of factors, which is also of a purely Russian nature, is due to the general socio-economic situation that has developed during the transition period from planned to market economy. This situation is characterized by a decline in production, painful restructuring of the economy, massive non-payments, inflation, growing unemployment and other negative phenomena. All this extremely complicates the activity of economic organizations and is accompanied by a growing wave of bankruptcies, and so on. Naturally, what is happening in the country's economy predetermines the need for increased attention to the problems of strategic management, which in turn should ensure the survival of enterprises in extreme conditions. It is no coincidence that a number of authors put forward the thesis that in such a situation one should speak first of all about a survival strategy and only then about a development strategy.

Recourse to strategy becomes vital when, for example, there are sudden changes in the firm's external environment. Their cause may be: saturation of demand; major changes in technology inside or outside the firm; the sudden emergence of numerous new competitors.

In such situations, the traditional principles and experience of the organization do not correspond to the tasks of using new opportunities and do not provide for the prevention of dangers. If an organization does not have a unified strategy, then it is possible that its various departments will develop heterogeneous, contradictory and inefficient solutions: the sales service will struggle to revive the former demand for the company's products, production units- make capital investments in the automation of obsolete industries, and the R & D service - to develop new products based on old technology. This will lead to conflicts, slow down the reorientation of the firm and make its work irregular and inefficient. It may turn out that the reorientation started too late to guarantee the firm's survival.

Faced with such difficulties, the firm must solve two extremely difficult problems: to choose the right direction of development from numerous alternatives and to direct the efforts of the team in the right direction.

However, it should be noted that, along with obvious advantages, strategic management has a number of disadvantages and limitations on its use, which show that this type of management, like others, does not have universal application for solving any problems in any situations.

First, strategic management, by its very nature, does not (and cannot) give an accurate and detailed picture of the future. The future desired state of the organization formed in strategic management is not a detailed description of its internal and external position, but a wish of what state the organization should be in in the future, what position to occupy in the market and in business, what position to have organizational culture, In which business groups go in etc. . And all this together should determine whether the organization will survive or not in the future in the competitive struggle.

Secondly, strategic management cannot be reduced to a set of routine procedures and schemes. He does not have a descriptive theory that justifies what and how to do when solving certain problems or in specific situations. Strategic management is a certain philosophy or ideology of business and management, and each manager understands and implements it to a large extent in his own way.

Of course, there are a number of guidelines, rules and logics for problem analysis and strategy selection, as well as strategic planning and strategy implementation. However, in general, strategic management is a symbiosis of intuition and the art of top management to lead the organization to strategic goals, high professionalism and creativity of employees, ensuring the connection of the organization with the environment, updating the organization and its products, as well as the implementation of current plans and, finally, the active involvement of all employees in the implementation of the organization's tasks, in the search for the best ways to achieve its goals.

Third, it takes a lot of effort and a lot of time and resources to get the process started in an organization. strategic management. It is necessary to create and implement strategic planning, which is fundamentally different from the development of long-term plans that are mandatory for execution in any conditions. The strategic plan must be flexible, responsive to changes within and outside the organization, which requires great effort and high costs. It is also necessary to create services that study the external environment. Marketing Services in modern conditions acquire exceptional significance and require significant additional costs.

Fourth, there is a sharp increase Negative consequences errors of strategic foresight. In a situation where completely new products are being created in a short time, new business opportunities suddenly appear and opportunities that have existed for many years disappear before our eyes. The price of retribution for incorrect foresight and, accordingly, for mistakes in strategic choice becomes often fatal for the organization. Especially tragic are the consequences of an incorrect forecast for organizations that carry out an uncontested way of functioning or implement a strategy that cannot be fundamentally corrected.

Fifth, strategic management often focuses on strategic planning, while the most important component of strategic management is the implementation of the strategic plan. This implies, first of all, the creation of an organizational culture that allows the implementation of a strategy, systems of motivation and work organization, as well as a certain flexibility in the organization.

In strategic management, the execution process has an active feedback on planning, which further enhances the significance of the execution phase. Therefore, an organization, in principle, will not be able to move to strategic management, even if it has a very good strategic planning subsystem, but there are no prerequisites or opportunities for creating a strategic execution subsystem.

The evolution of intra-company management systems makes it possible to understand that successive systems correspond to a growing level of instability (uncertainty) of the external environment. Since the beginning of the 20th century, two types of enterprise management systems have been developed: management based on control over execution (post factum) and management based on extrapolation of the past. To date, two types of control systems have developed:

The first is based on positioning (management based on anticipation of change, when unexpected phenomena began to appear and the pace of change accelerated, but not so much that it was impossible to determine the reaction to them in time). This type includes: long-term and strategic planning; management through the choice of strategic positions;

The second one is connected with a timely reaction, giving a response to rapid and unexpected changes in the environment (management based on flexible emergency solutions). This type includes: management based on the ranking of strategic objectives; control by strong and weak signals; management in the face of strategic surprises.

Choice of combinations various systems for a particular enterprise depends on the conditions of the environment in which it operates. The choice of a system for determining positions is due to the novelty and complexity of the tasks. The choice of a timely response system depends on the pace of change and the predictability of tasks. The synthesis and integration of these management systems make it possible to form a strategic management method that most fully meets the conditions of flexibility and uncertainty of the external environment.

The emergence of strategic management is caused by objective reasons arising from changes in the nature of the environment for the activities of enterprises. This is due to the action of a number of factors. Let's consider the main ones. First group such factors due to global trends in the development of a market economy. These include: internationalization and globalization of business; the emergence of new unexpected business opportunities opened up by the achievements of science and technology; the development of information networks that make it possible for lightning-fast dissemination and receipt of information; wide availability of modern technologies; changing role of human resources; increased competition for resources; accelerating environmental change.

Second group factors stems from those transformations in the system of economic management in Russia that took place in the process of transition to a market economy model, mass privatization of enterprises in almost all industries. As a result, the entire higher layer of management structures, which was busy collecting information, developing a long-term strategy and directions for the development of individual industries and industries, was eliminated. You can have different attitudes towards the already non-existent sectoral ministries and planning bodies, but it cannot be denied that the latter, having a powerful network of sectoral and departmental institutions, carried out almost the entire amount of work on the development of promising directions for the development of enterprises, transformed them into promising current plans, which from above brought to the attention of the performers. The task of the management of enterprises was mainly to carry out operational functions to organize the fulfillment of tasks lowered from above.

As a result of the rapid elimination of this upper layer of enterprise management, combined with privatization, when the state refused to manage the vast majority of enterprises, all functions that were previously performed by higher bodies were automatically transferred to the management of associations and firms. Naturally, the mentality of the leadership, the entire internal organization of enterprises, in most cases turned out to be unprepared for this type of activity.

The third group of reasons the importance of strategic management in present stage is associated with the emergence of a huge number of economic structures of various forms of ownership, when a large number of workers unprepared for professional management activities came into the business sphere, which predetermined the need for accelerated assimilation by the latter of the theory and practice of strategic management.

Fourth group of factors, which is also purely Russian in nature, is due to the general socio-economic situation that has developed in the transition period from a planned to a market economy. This situation is characterized, as is well known, by a drastic decline in production, a painful restructuring of the economy, mass non-payments, inflation, growing unemployment and other negative factors. All this, regardless of the form of ownership, extremely complicates the activity economic organizations accompanied by a growing wave of bankruptcies and other negative phenomena. Naturally, this predetermines the need for increased attention to the problems of strategic management, which in turn should ensure the survival of enterprises in extreme conditions. It is no coincidence that a number of authors put forward the thesis that in such a situation one should speak first of all about a survival strategy, and only then about a strategy.

In this regard, an important question seems to be when exactly the appeal to the strategy becomes vital. One of these conditions is the occurrence of sudden changes in the external environment of the firm. They can be caused by saturation of demand, major changes in technology inside or outside the firm, or the sudden emergence of numerous new competitors.

In such situations, the traditional principles and experience of the organization do not correspond to the tasks of using new opportunities and do not provide for the prevention of hazards. If an organization does not have a unified strategy, then it is possible that different departments will develop heterogeneous, contradictory and ineffective solutions. The sales department will fight to revive the old demand for the company's products, the production departments will make capital investments in the automation of aging industries, and the R&D department will develop new products based on old technology. This will lead to conflicts, delay the firm's reorientation, and make it unrhythmic and inefficient. It may turn out that the reorientation started too late to guarantee the firm's survival.

Faced with such complexities, the firm must solve two extremely difficult problems: to choose the right growth planning from numerous alternatives and to direct the efforts of the team in the right direction.

Along with obvious advantages, strategic management has a number of disadvantages and limitations on its use, which indicate that this type of management, like all others, does not have the universality of application in all situations to solve any problems.

First, strategic management, by its very nature, does not, and indeed cannot, give an accurate and detailed picture of the future. The future desired state of the organization formed in strategic management is not a detailed description of its internal and external position, but rather a qualitative wish for the state in which the organization should be in the future, what position to occupy in the market and in business, what organizational culture to have , which business groups to join, etc. At the same time, all this together should be what will determine whether the organization will survive or not in the future in the competitive struggle.

Secondly, strategic management cannot be reduced to a set of routine procedures and schemes. He does not have a descriptive theory that prescribes what and how to do when solving certain problems or in specific situations. Strategic management is, rather, a certain philosophy or business ideology and management. And each individual manager understands and implements it largely in his own way. Of course, there are a number of recommendations, rules and logic diagrams for problem analysis and strategy selection, as well as the implementation of strategic planning and practical implementation of the strategy. However, in general strategic management - this is a symbiosis of intuition and the art of top management to lead the organization to strategic goals, high professionalism and creativity of employees, ensuring the connection of the organization with the environment, updating the organization and its products, as well as the implementation of current plans and, finally, the active involvement of all employees in the implementation of the organization's tasks, in search of the best ways to achieve its goals.

Thirdly, huge efforts and large investments of time and resources are required in order for the organization to begin the process of strategic management. It is necessary to create and implement strategic planning, which is fundamentally different from the development of long-term plans that are binding under any conditions. The strategic plan must be flexible, it must respond to changes inside and outside the organization, and this requires a lot of effort and a lot of money. It is also necessary to create services that monitor the environment and include the organization in the environment. marketing services, public relations etc. acquire exceptional significance and require significant additional costs.

Fourth, the negative consequences of mistakes in strategic foresight are sharply increasing. In an environment where completely new products are being created in a short time, when unexpected new opportunities Opportunities that have existed for many years are disappearing before our eyes, the price of retribution for incorrect foresight and, accordingly, for mistakes in strategic choice often becomes fatal for the organization. Especially tragic are the consequences of an incorrect forecast for organizations that carry out an uncontested way of functioning or that implement a strategy that cannot be fundamentally corrected.

Fifth, in the implementation of strategic management, the main emphasis is often placed on strategic planning. In fact, the most important component of strategic management is the implementation of the strategic plan. And this implies, first of all, the creation of an organizational culture that allows the implementation of a strategy, systems of motivation and organization of work, a certain flexibility in the organization, etc. At the same time, strategic management execution process has an active feedback effect on planning, which further enhances the significance of the execution phase. Therefore, an organization, in principle, will not be able to move to strategic management if it has a strategic planning subsystem, even if it is very good, and there are no prerequisites or opportunities for creating a strategic execution subsystem.

The evolution of intra-company management systems makes it possible to understand that successive systems correspond to a growing level of instability (uncertainty) of the external environment. Since the beginning of the century, two types of enterprise management systems have been developed: management based on control over execution (post factum) and management based on extrapolation of the past. To date, two types of control systems have developed:

The first, based on positioning (management based on anticipation of change, when unexpected phenomena began to arise and the pace of change accelerated, but not so much that it was impossible to determine the reaction to them in time). This type includes: long-term and strategic planning; management through the choice of strategic positions;

The second is related to timely response, giving a response to rapid and unexpected changes in the environment (management based on flexible emergency solutions). This type includes: management based on the ranking of strategic objectives; strong and weak signals; management in the face of strategic surprises.

The choice of combinations of different systems for a particular enterprise depends on the conditions of the environment in which it operates. The choice of a system for determining positions is due to the novelty and complexity of the tasks. The choice of a timely response system depends on the pace of change and the predictability of tasks. The synthesis and integration of these management systems make it possible to form a strategic management method that most fully meets the conditions of flexibility and uncertainty of the external environment.

Management

The emergence of strategic management is caused by objective reasons arising from changes in the nature of the environment for the activities of enterprises. Let us consider the main groups of factors that have changed this environment.

The first group of factors is due to global trends in the development of a market economy. These include: internationalization and globalization of business; the emergence of new unexpected business opportunities opened up by the achievements of science and technology; the development of information networks makes it possible to disseminate and receive information at lightning speed; wide availability of modern technologies; changing role of human resources; increased competition;sa resources; accelerating environmental change.

The second group of factors is a consequence of the transformations in the Russian economic management system that occurred during the transition to a market economy model, mass privatization of enterprises in almost all industries. As a result, the top layer of management structures, which was busy collecting information, developing a long-term strategy and determining the directions for the development of individual industries and industries, was eliminated. It is possible to have different attitudes towards the already non-existent sectoral ministries and planning bodies, however 1 it cannot be denied that the latter, having a powerful network of sectoral and departmental institutions, carried out almost the entire amount of work on the development of promising directions for the development of enterprises, transformed them into long-term current plans, which were brought from above to the performers. The task of the management of enterprises was to carry out operational functions to organize the implementation of these tasks.

As a result of the rapid elimination of this upper layer of management, combined with privatization, when the state refused to manage the vast majority of enterprises, the management of associations and firms was automatically transferred to all functions that were previously performed by higher bodies. Naturally, the mentality of managers, the entire internal organization of enterprises turned out, in most cases, to be unprepared for this type of activity.

The third group of factors that change the environment for the activities of enterprises is associated with the emergence of a huge number of economic entities of various forms of ownership. A large number of workers, for the most part unprepared for professional managerial activities, have come to the sphere of entrepreneurship. This necessitated the accelerated development of the theory and practice of strategic management by them.

The fourth group of factors, which is also of a purely Russian nature, is due to the general socio-economic situation during the transition from a planned economy to a market economy. A landslide decline in production, a radical restructuring of the economy, massive non-payments, inflation, growing unemployment and other negative factors - all this greatly complicates the activities of economic organizations, regardless of ownership, accompanied by a growing wave of bankruptcies and other negative phenomena.

From all this it follows that increased attention to the problems of strategic management can and should ensure the functioning of enterprises in extreme conditions. It is no coincidence that some experts put forward the thesis that in such a situation one should speak first of all about a survival strategy, and only then about a strategy.

That is why the question is important: when exactly does recourse to strategy become vital? One of these conditions is the occurrence of sudden changes in the external environment of the firm. They can be caused by saturation of demand, major changes in technology inside or outside the firm, the sudden emergence of numerous new competitors, and so on.

In such situations, the traditional principles and experience of the organization do not contribute to solving the problems of exploiting new opportunities and do not ensure the prevention of dangers. If an organization does not have a unified strategy, then it is possible that different departments will develop heterogeneous, contradictory and ineffective solutions. The sales department will fight to revive the old demand for the company's products, the production departments will make capital investments in the automation of aging industries, and the R&D department will develop new products based on old technology. This will lead to conflicts, delay the firm's reorientation, and make it unrhythmic and inefficient. It may turn out that the reorientation started too late to guarantee the survival of the enterprise.

In this situation, the firm must solve two extremely difficult problems:

Choose the desired growth planning from several options;

Direct the efforts of the team in the right direction.

Along with clear advantages, strategic management has a number of disadvantages and limitations in its use. Thus, this type of control, like all others, does not have universality for application in any situations when solving any problems.

Strategic management, by virtue of its essence, does not, and indeed cannot, give an accurate and detailed picture. The picture of the future desired state of the organization formed in strategic management is not a detailed description of its internal and external position, but rather a qualitative wish to anyone, what the organization should become after some time, what position to take in the market and in business, what organizational culture to have , which business groups to join, etc. All this together should determine whether the organization will survive or not in the future in the competitive struggle.

This type of management cannot be reduced to a set of routine procedures and schemes. He does not have a descriptive theory that prescribes what and how to do when solving certain problems or in specific situations.

Strategic management is rather a certain philosophy or business ideology and management. And each individual manager understands and implements it largely in his own way. Of course, there are a number of recommendations, rules and logic diagrams for problem analysis and strategy selection, as well as the implementation of strategic planning and practical implementation of the strategy. However, in general, strategic management is a symbiosis of intuition and art, with which management must lead the organization to strategic goals; this is the high professionalism and creativity of employees, ensuring the connection of the organization with the environment, updating the organization and its products, the implementation of current plans and, finally, the active inclusion of all employees in the process of finding the best ways to achieve the goals of the organization or firm.

It takes a lot of effort, a lot of time and resources to introduce strategic management into an organization. To do this, first of all, it is necessary to organize strategic planning, which in itself is fundamentally different from the development of long-term plans that are mandatory for execution in any conditions. The strategic plan must be flexible, it must respond to changes inside and outside the organization, and this requires a lot of effort and a lot of money. It is also necessary to create services that monitor the environment and include the organization in the environment. Marketing, public relations services, etc. acquire exceptional significance and require significant additional costs.

The negative consequences of errors in strategic foresight are sharply increasing. In an environment where completely new products are being created in a short time, when new business opportunities suddenly appear and opportunities that have existed for many years disappear before our eyes, the price for incorrect foresight and, accordingly, mistakes in strategic choice often becomes the very existence of the organization. Especially tragic are the consequences of an incorrect forecast for organizations that carry out an uncontested path of development or implement a strategy that cannot be fundamentally corrected.

In the implementation of strategic management, the main emphasis is often placed on strategic planning. In fact, the most important component of strategic management is the implementation of the strategic plan. Here it is especially important to create an organizational culture that allows you to realize! strategy, build a system of motivation and work organization, I have a certain flexibility in the organization, etc. In this case, in strategic management, the execution process has an active feedback effect on planning, which only enhances the significance of the execution phase. Therefore, an organization that has let! even a very good subsystem of strategic planning, but not having the prerequisites or opportunities for creating a subsystem of strategic execution, in principle, will not be able to move on to strategic management.

The evolution of intra-company management systems makes it possible to understand that successive systems correspond to (a sweeping level of instability (uncertainty) of the external environment. Since the beginning of the century, two types of enterprise management systems have been developed: management based on performance control (post factum) and management based on extrapolation of the past.

To date, two types of control systems have developed.

The first type is based on position definition. Management based on anticipation of change, when unexpected phenomena began to appear and the pace of change accelerated, but not so much that it was impossible to determine the reaction to them in time. This type includes long-term and strategic planning, management through the selection of strategic positions.

The second type is associated with a timely response that responds to rapid and unexpected changes in the environment - management based on flexible emergency solutions. This type includes management based on the ranking of strategic objectives, management by strong and weak signals, management in the face of strategic surprises.

The choice of a combination of different systems for a particular enterprise depends on the conditions of the environment in which it operates. The choice of a system for determining positions is due to the novelty and complexity of the tasks. The choice of a timely response system depends on the pace of change and the predictability of tasks. The synthesis of these control systems allows us to form a method of strategic management that most fully meets the conditions of flexibility and uncertainty of the external environment.

Control questions

1. What are the main reasons and factors that led to the increase in the role of strategic management.

2. Formulate the basic definitions of the concepts "strategy" and "strategic management".

3. What are the differences between operational and strategic management?

4. What are the main difficulties in implementing strategic management?

5. Name the main levels of strategic management.

6. Give general characteristics strategies.

7. What are the features of the strategy of individual business units?

8. Name the main types of functional strategies.

The emergence of strategic management in Russia is caused by objective reasons arising from changes in the nature of the environment for the activities of enterprises. This is due to the action of a number of factors. The first group of such factors is due to global trends in the development of a market economy. These include: internationalization and globalization of business; the emergence of new unexpected business opportunities opened up by the achievements of science and technology; the development of information networks that make it possible for lightning-fast dissemination and receipt of information; wide availability of modern technologies; changing role of human resources; increased competition for resources; accelerating environmental change. The second group of factors stems from those transformations in the system of economic management in Russia that took place in the process of transition to a market economy model, mass privatization of enterprises in almost all industries. As a result, the entire higher layer of management structures, which was busy collecting information, developing a long-term strategy and directions for the development of individual industries and industries, was eliminated. The third group of factors is associated with the emergence of a huge number of economic structures of various forms of ownership, when a mass of workers unprepared for professional management activities came into the business sphere, which predetermined the need for accelerated assimilation by the latter of the theory and practice of strategic management.

The fourth group of factors, which is also of a purely Russian nature, is due to the general socio-economic situation that has developed in the transition period from a planned to a market economy. This situation is characterized by a decline in production, painful restructuring of the economy, massive non-payments, inflation, growing unemployment and other negative phenomena. All this extremely complicates the activity of economic organizations and is accompanied by a growing wave of bankruptcies, and so on. Naturally, what is happening in the country's economy predetermines the need for increased attention to the problems of strategic management, which in turn should ensure the survival of enterprises in extreme conditions. It is no coincidence that a number of authors put forward the thesis that in such a situation one should speak first of all about a survival strategy and only then about a development strategy.

Recourse to strategy becomes vital when, for example, there are sudden changes in the firm's external environment. Their cause may be: saturation of demand; major changes in technology inside or outside the firm; the sudden emergence of numerous new competitors. In such situations, the traditional principles and experience of the organization do not correspond to the tasks of using new opportunities and do not provide for the prevention of dangers. If an organization does not have a unified strategy, then it is possible that its various departments will develop heterogeneous, contradictory and ineffective solutions: the sales department will struggle to revive the former demand for the company's products, the production departments will make capital investments in the automation of aging industries, and the R&D department will develop new products based on old technology. This will lead to conflicts, slow down the reorientation of the firm and make its work irregular and inefficient. It may turn out that the reorientation started too late to guarantee the firm's survival.

Prerequisites for the emergence of strategic management

First time methods strategic management were developed in the USA in the early 1970s. consulting firm McKincey and put into practice in 1972 in companies General electric, IBM, Coca- Cola and others. In the early 1980s. they were already used by almost half of the major corporations.

The theoretical foundations of strategic management were the following concepts:

1) "a future-oriented corporation"; It gained popularity in the mid-1960s. and considered the internal structure of the firm and its surrounding socio-economic and technological environment as a whole. Initially, the emphasis was on the company's flexible adaptation to the environment, then on its active change;

2) "goal management"; it was assumed that the goals (for example, units) are adjusted based on real circumstances and the ability of staff to implement them;

3) "situational approach"; in accordance with it, management is a reaction to the influence of circumstances. It involves solving emerging problems, taking into account the interaction of the internal and external environment (which was emphasized), existing restrictions, the qualifications of managers, the accepted leadership style;

4) "ecological school", which raised the question of the organic relationship between the firm and the environment and ensuring the company's survival within its framework as the main task of managerial activity;

5) " organizations serving the environment"; in the center there was a provision on the need for the company to adapt to the environment when it changes by restructuring goals;

6) "marketing", which said that the company should not impose its products on the market, but proceed in its activities from the needs of customers, rebuild the entire production system in accordance with them;

7) "strategic planning" it is aimed at identifying and analyzing strategic problems, setting goals, determining long-term development guidelines, a course of action, and redistributing resources in accordance with this.

As an academic discipline, strategic management began to take shape after the publication of R. Rumelt's books "Strategy, Structure and Result" (1974) and "Competitive Strategy" by M. Porter (1980).

Stages of development of corporate planning

The emergence of strategic management techniques and their use in practice is most easily understood in a historical context. Business historians generally distinguish four stages in the development of corporate planning: budgeting, long-range planning, strategic planning, and strategic management.

Budgeting. Until the Second World War, special planning services, especially long-term ones, were not created in companies. The top executives of corporations regularly discussed and outlined plans for the development of their business, but formal planning was limited to the preparation of annual financial estimates - budgets by item of expenditure for various purposes. A feature of budgetary and financial methods is their short-term nature and internal orientation, i.e. the organization in this case is considered as a closed system. When using only budgetary and financial methods, the main concern of managers is the current profit and cost structure. The choice of such priorities creates a threat to the long-term development of the organization.

Long term planning. In the 1950s - early 1960s. The characteristic conditions for the management of American companies were high growth rates of commodity markets, relatively high predictability of trends in the development of the national economy. These factors necessitated the expansion of the planning horizon and created the conditions for the development of long-term planning. The main idea of ​​the method is to make a sales forecast for the company for several years ahead. At the same time, due to the slow increase in the characteristics of the variability of the external environment, long-term planning was based on the extrapolation of past trends in the development of the company. The main indicator - sales forecast - was based on extrapolation of sales in previous years. The main task of managers was to identify financial problems that were limiting the growth of the firm.

Strategic planning. In the late 1960s, the economic environment in many industrialized countries changed significantly. As the crisis escalated and international competition intensified, extrapolation forecasts began to diverge more and more from the real figures. Thus, it turned out that long-term planning does not work in a dynamically changing external environment and fierce competition. In the system of strategic planning, there is no assumption that the future must necessarily be better than the past, and the premise that it is possible to study the future by extrapolation is rejected. The difference between managers' understanding of the role of external factors is the main difference between long-term planning and strategic planning. At the forefront of strategic planning is the analysis of both the internal capabilities of the organization and external competitive forces and the search for ways to use external opportunities, taking into account the specifics of the organization. Thus, it can be said that the purpose of strategic planning is to improve the response of the enterprise to the dynamics and behavior of competitors.

Strategic management. By the 1990s, most corporations around the world had begun the transition from strategic planning to strategic management. Strategic management is defined as a complex of not only strategic management decisions that determine the long-term development of an organization, but also specific actions ensuring a quick response of the enterprise to a change in the external environment, which may entail the need for a strategic maneuver, revision of goals and adjustment of the general direction of development.

In this way, strategic management is an an action-oriented system that includes the process of implementing the strategy, as well as evaluation and control. Moreover, the implementation of the strategy is a key part of strategic management, since in the absence of implementation mechanisms, the strategic plan remains only a fantasy.

Essence, subject and tasks of strategic management

Strategic management is an activity that consists in choosing the scope and system of actions to achieve the long-term goals of the organization in a constantly changing environment.

This is the area of ​​activity of the top management of the company, whose main responsibility is to determine the preferred directions for the development of the organization, setting fundamental goals, optimal allocation of resources, using everything that gives the organization a competitive advantage.

Strategic management acts as a process through which an organization interacts with its environment. At the same time, strategic management is a field of knowledge about techniques, tools, methodology for making strategic decisions and methods for their practical implementation. Strategic management activities are associated with setting the goals and objectives of the organization, as well as maintaining relationships between the organization and the environment that help it achieve its goals, correspond to its internal capabilities and allow it to remain susceptible to changes in the external environment.

Strategic management solves the following tasks:

Overcoming the crisis state of the company, caused by the discrepancy between its capabilities and the requirements of the environment for occupying a leading position in the market (in the industry) in the future;

Ensuring viability in any most unexpected situation;

Creation of conditions for long-term development, taking into account external and internal opportunities.

The main principles of strategic management are:

1) The assumption of the unity of the company and the environment, used in setting the main goals and objectives, creating a program for their implementation.

2) Focus on the implementation of the vision of the future, the mission of the company, its global quality goals, achieving competitiveness.

3) Accounting for the formation and choice of strategies of the characteristics of the markets in which it operates, its strategic potential.

To date, it has emerged two approaches to strategic management.

Traditional approach assumes that firms use their strengths for a strategic breakthrough in the existing competitive environment, the opportunities that open up before them.

Modern approach is that companies, by manipulating their resources, form for themselves such an external environment, the demands of which they can satisfy with the greatest benefit for themselves. For example, monopolies, by reducing the supply of their products and creating artificial shortages, are able to raise prices and extract excess profits.

In other words, the emphasis is gradually shifting from actions related to preparing for the future to actions aimed at its purposeful formation. At the same time, reliance is placed on personnel as the most valuable resource of the company, information systems, and constant structural adjustments.

The subject of strategic management is strategic process which includes the following steps:

1) a study of the internal and external environment of the company, within which it operates (strategic analysis);

2) definition of the mission, setting goals, formulating strategies and considering alternatives and final selection and preparation of appropriate plans (strategic planning);

3) development of a new organizational structure and management system, practical activities to achieve the set goals, including in unforeseen situations, transform the company into a new state, evaluate its results, adjust further steps (management of the implementation of strategies and plans, or strategic management in the narrow sense ).

Strategic Decisions

Strategic decisions are at the heart of strategic management.

Strategic Decisions - it management decisions, which:

are future-oriented and lay the foundation for making operational management decisions;

are associated with significant uncertainty, since they take into account uncontrollable external factors affecting the enterprise;

are associated with the involvement of significant resources and can have extremely serious, long-term consequences for the enterprise.

The main features of strategic decisions:

innovation;

focus on the long-term goals of the enterprise, on the future, and not on the present;

uncertainty;

many alternatives;

there are no strict time frames for implementation;

long term consequences.

subjectivity.

The need for the formation of strategic management in Russia

Currently, in the economic practice of Russia, the mechanism of strategic management is undergoing a period of formation. At the same time, domestic and international analysts believe that Russian market has entered the stage when the lack of a developed strategy prevents enterprises from operating and developing sustainably. The momentary strategic decisions that made some companies successful immediately after 1991 no longer work. Therefore, company leaders are gradually coming to an understanding of the need to develop a development strategy. This is facilitated by the identification of the enterprise as an integral isolated system, the formation of new targets and interests of the enterprise and its employees.

Rapid changes in the external environment also stimulate the emergence of new methods, systems and approaches to management in domestic enterprises. If external environment stable, there is no special need to engage in strategic management. However, at present, most Russian enterprises operate in a rapidly changing and difficult to predict environment, and, therefore, are in dire need of strategic management methods.

The need for the formation of a strategic management system in domestic practice is also determined by the ongoing integration processes. In Russian business, financial and industrial groups are emerging that unite technologically related enterprises. Even small enterprises for the purpose of successful functioning are combined into corporations, which are called small diversified.

The next important prerequisite for the development of strategic management is the process of business globalization, which inevitably affected our country as well. Large companies view the world as a single market space, where national differences and preferences are erased, and consumption is standardized. Products from companies such as Mars, Siemens, Sony, Procter& Gamble, L’ Oreal and many others are sold in all countries of the world and are an important competitive factor in national markets. It is possible to resist the onslaught of the goods of large companies only by acting by similar methods, i.e. developing a strategy for working in a competitive environment.