The main characteristics of strategic goals. Types of strategic planning

Stages of strategic planning

Process strategic planning consists of several stages.

1. At the first stage of planning, an essential decision is the choice of the goals of the organization.

Main common goal organizations, i.e. a clearly expressed reason for its existence is designated as its mission (a responsible task, role, assignment). Goals are developed to carry out this mission.

The mission details the status of the organization and provides direction and direction for setting goals and strategies at various organizational levels.

The mission statement should include:

1. the task of the organization in terms of its main services, its main customers, its main technologies - i.e. what activities the organization is engaged in;

2. environmental factors in relation to the organization;

3. culture of the organization - what type of working climate exists in the organization, what kind of people are attracted to this climate.

For example, the mission of the Department of Social Protection is to meet the social needs of the population. The mission of the Center for Social Assistance to Families and Children is to provide comprehensive assistance and support to families and children.

Some leaders do not attach importance to the choice of mission. This is especially true for business leaders. They believe that the mission is to make a profit.

The mission represents value to the organization, but the values ​​and goals of top-level leaders also affect the organization. Researchers note that strategic behavior is influenced by values ​​(Igor Ansof). Gut and Tigiri set 6 value orientations, which influence the adoption of managerial decisions, and also that the chosen goals depend on them.

2. Second stage. The goals of social protection organizations are formed and set on the basis of the mission of the organization. Goals must have certain characteristics:

Specific and measurable goals - for example, to provide support large families, registered in the department (absolute number), for example, the goal of a non-state university is to provide training of specialists at a lower cost;

Orientation in time - when the result should be achieved (long-term - 5 years, medium-term 1-5 years, short-term up to a year);

Achievable Goals - To serve to improve organizational performance, goals must be achievable. Goals should be mutually supportive - i.e. actions and decisions necessary to achieve one goal should not interfere with the achievement of other goals of the organization. If this condition is not met, then a conflict between departments may arise in the organization. For example, the goals of the center for social assistance to families and children are:

* realization of the right to protection of the family and children by the state;

* promoting the development and strengthening of the family, as social institution;

* improvement of socio-economic conditions of life and well-being of the family;

* humanization of family ties with society and the state;

* Establishment of harmonious intra-family relations;

* Prevention of juvenile delinquency and neglect.

3. In the third step of the strategic planning process, after establishing the organization's mission and goals, the organization's external environment is examined. The external environment is assessed according to three parameters:

Changes that affect different aspects current strategy;

What factors pose a threat to the strategy;

Which factors provide more opportunities to achieve the goal by adjusting the plan.

They mainly pay attention to such factors as social, economic, political, technology development, market conditions. work force, investment.

Environmental analysis is the process by which strategic planners monitor factors external to the organization to identify opportunities and threats to the organization.

4. Fourth stage. Management survey of internal strengths and weaknesses of the organization - a methodological assessment of the functional areas of the organization, designed to identify its strategic strengths and weaknesses. The survey involves the study of such internal factors: marketing, financial condition, production, the state of personnel, the culture of the organization:

Marketing - market share and competitiveness; offered goods or services; demographic situation; the possibility of promoting new products or services on the market; customer service efficiency; advertising opportunities; for example, two aspects of marketing are important for a non-state university: marketing educational services and specialists.

The current financial condition of the organization must be taken into account in any planning, since the lack of financial reserves can destroy any undertaking. When analyzing the financial condition, the main attention should be paid to the possibility of reducing the cost of production, the degree of dependence of the enterprise on suppliers, the degree of physical and obsolescence of equipment. As for organizations social sphere, then their financial condition is determined by their organizational and legal form. Funding source for public institutions(which are social services currently) are primarily budget funds. At the same time, the state establishes certain norms for budgetary financing of the corresponding costs. This means that financial management should be aimed at optimizing costs (choosing the best, the best option). Therefore, many types social services are paid. It is also possible to use additional sources financial resources;

Production - a purposeful activity to create something useful; whether the organization can produce goods or services at a lower price than competitors; whether there is access to new materials and technologies; whether the equipment is modern; production, i.e. the provision of social services is a purposeful activity of all social services;

Staff status - type of employees; competence of employees and top management; reward system; staff development; performance evaluation;

Culture - mores, customs, moral and psychological climate. It is the internal culture that forms the image of the organization both among suppliers and consumers, and in the market. labor resources thus attracting the necessary employees.

5. Fifth stage. Analysis of strategic alternatives. Once the external environment has been assessed and the internal environment of the organization has been examined, management can determine the strategy that it will follow. The organization faces 4 main strategic alternatives:

1) limited growth - adheres to most organizations. Goals are set from what has been achieved previously, taking into account inflation. The limited growth strategy is applied in mature industries with static technology, while the organization is satisfied with its position. This is the easiest, most convenient, and least risky course of action.

2) growth - an annual increase in the level of short-term and long-term goals compared to the level of indicators of the previous year. This strategy is applied in dynamically developing industries with changing technologies. Growth can be internal or external. Internal growth is the expansion of goods or services. External growth - the acquisition of a supplier firm or one firm acquires another;

3) reduction - managers rarely choose this strategy. Goals are set below what has been achieved in the past. There may be 3 options:

a) liquidation - complete sale of property;

b) cutting off the excess - separate some units;

c) reduction or reorientation - reduction of part of its activities;

4) combination - the combination of any of the three strategies. This type is usually chosen by large firms.

6. At the sixth stage, the strategy is chosen. A strategic alternative is chosen that will maximize the long-term effectiveness of the organization, that is, the result.

The choice is influenced by factors:

1) risk - what level of risk is considered acceptable. High degree risk can destroy an organization;

2) knowledge of past strategies - often management is influenced by past strategies;

3) reaction to the owners (if a joint-stock company) - the owners of shares limit the flexibility of management when choosing an alternative (commercial structures);

4) the time factor - a decision can contribute to the success or failure of the organization (implementation of a good idea at a bad moment can lead to the collapse of the organization).

7. The seventh stage is the implementation of the strategic plan. The plan must be realistic.

It is necessary to dwell on the main components of formal planning:

1. Tactics - short-term strategies that are consistent with long-term plans. Characteristics of tactical plans:

a) tactical plans are developed in the development of the strategy;

b) tactics are developed at the level of middle managers;

c) the results of tactical plans appear quickly and are correlated with specific actions (the results of the strategy may appear in a few years).

The tactical goal of social work at this stage is to meet the needs of those most in need of social protection categories of the population, taking into account the possibilities of the economy (since targeted social policy is currently being implemented).

2. Policy - is a general guide for action and decision making, which facilitates the achievement of goals. Policy is usually formulated by top-level managers for a long period of time. For example, the policy of providing equal employment opportunities for women; non-disclosure of trade secrets of the organization.

3. Procedures - describes the actions to be taken in a particular situation. If the decision-making situation is repeated, then the management applies the time-tested course of action, and for this it develops standardized instructions. Essentially, a procedure is a programmed decision. For example, the procedure for assigning an old-age labor pension.

4. Rules - are made when management restricts the actions of employees to ensure that specific actions are performed in specific ways. That is, the rule defines what should be done in a particular single situation. Rules differ from procedures in that they are designed to address a specific and limited issue. The procedure is designed for a situation in which a sequence of several interconnected actions takes place.

Sometimes there are conflicts caused by the unwillingness of employees to comply with rules and procedures. In order to avoid a conflict situation, the leader needs to inform subordinates about the goals of the rules, explain why it is necessary to do the work exactly as prescribed by the rules or procedures.

Implementation management is needed to execute the strategic plan. Consider the management tools that ensure consistency:

A budget is a method of allocating quantified resources to achieve quantified goals.

Management by objectives is a process consisting of 4 interdependent and interrelated stages:

a) development of clear, concise statements of goals;

b) development of realistic plans to achieve them;

c) systematic monitoring, measurement and evaluation of work and results;

d) corrective actions to achieve planned results.

1) The first stage - the development of goals - repeats the scheme of the planning process.

After long-term and short-term goals for the organization are developed, managers formulate these goals for employees. next level down the line. Managers should support employees in the following areas: information; clarification of the relationship between levels of authority and responsibility; support from staff; horizontal and vertical coordination; resources.

2) At the second stage of management by goals, the main tasks and measures necessary to achieve the goals are determined; establishment of interrelationships between the main activities; clarification of roles, relationships, delegation of relevant powers; estimation of time spent for each main operation; determining the resources required for each operation; checking deadlines and correcting action plans.

3) After the expiration of a set period of time, the degree of achievement of goals, the identification of problems and obstacles, the determination of the causes of problems, the identification of personal needs and the reward for effective work are determined.

4) If the objectives are not achieved, the management has determined the exact reason, it is necessary to decide what actions should be taken to correct the deviation.

5) If the goals are achieved, then the management by goals process can start again - with the setting of goals for the coming period.

8. The eighth stage. The evaluation of the strategic plan is carried out by comparing the results of work with the objectives. Evaluation should be carried out systematically and continuously. When evaluating the strategic planning process, 5 questions should be answered:

1. Is the strategy internally compatible with the organization's capabilities?

2. Does the strategy involve an acceptable degree of risk?

3. Does the organization have sufficient resources to implement the strategy?

4. Does the strategy take into account external dangers and opportunities?

5. Is the strategy the best way to use the organization's resources?

Evaluation criteria: quantitative (growth in the volume of services, level of costs); quality (the ability to attract highly qualified managers and specialists, expanding the scope of services to clients, seizing opportunities).

After choosing a strategy and developing a plan, management must determine whether the structure of the organization contributes to the achievement of goals. The strategy defines the structure. The structure should always reflect the strategy.

Strategic and tactical goals of management social work, the main directions of its development can be outlined in the concept of social work and the program-target model of social work management; Social worker can participate in program planning, social policy.

Essence of strategic planning

Being a management function, strategic planning is the foundation on which the entire system of management functions is built, or the basis of the functional structure of the management system. Strategic planning is a tool with which the system of goals for the functioning of the enterprise is formed and the efforts of the entire team of the enterprise are combined to achieve it.

Strategic planning is a set of procedures and decisions by which an enterprise strategy is developed that ensures the achievement of the goals of the enterprise's functioning. The logic of this definition is as follows: the activities of the management apparatus and the decisions made on its basis form the strategy for the functioning of the enterprise, which allows the company to achieve its goals.

The process of strategic planning is a tool by which managerial decisions in the field of economic activity are substantiated. Its main task is to provide innovation and organizational changes necessary for the life of the enterprise. As a process, strategic planning includes four types of activities (functions of strategic planning) (Fig. 4.2). These include:

distribution of resources, adaptation to external environment, internal coordination and regulation, organizational changes.

1. Distribution of resources. This process includes planning the distribution of resources, such as material, financial, labor, information resources, etc. The operation strategy of the enterprise is based not only on expanding the business, meeting market demand, but also on the efficient consumption of resources, the constant reduction of production costs. Therefore, the efficient distribution of resources between different areas of business, the search for combinations of their rational consumption is the most important function of strategic planning.

2. Adaptation to the external environment. Adaptation should be interpreted in the broad sense of the word as the adaptation of an enterprise to changing market conditions of management. The market environment in relation to business entities always contains favorable and unfavorable conditions (advantages and threats). The task of this function is to adapt the economic mechanism of the enterprise to these conditions, i.e., to take advantage of competitive advantages and prevent various threats. Of course, these functions are also performed in the current management of the enterprise. However, the effectiveness of operational management will be achieved only if competitive advantages and barriers will be foreseen in advance, i.e. planned. In this regard, the task of strategic planning is to provide the enterprise with new favorable opportunities by creating an appropriate mechanism for adapting the enterprise to the external environment.

3. Coordination and regulation. This function involves the coordination of efforts structural divisions firms (enterprises, industries, workshops) to achieve the goal provided for by the strategic plan. The enterprise strategy includes a complex system of interrelated goals and objectives. The decomposition of these goals and objectives provides for their division into smaller components and assignment to the relevant structural units and executors. This process does not occur spontaneously, but on a planned basis in a strategic plan. Therefore, all components of the strategic plan should be linked in terms of resources, structural units and performers, and functional processes. This linkage is ensured by the system for the formation of planning indicators (see Chapter 1), as well as the presence at the enterprise in the management apparatus of the corresponding unit or executor responsible for coordination. The objects of coordination and regulation are internal production operations.

4. Organizational changes. This activity provides for the formation of an organization that ensures the coordinated work of management personnel, the development of managers' thinking, and taking into account past experience in strategic planning. Ultimately, this function is manifested in the implementation of various organizational transformations at the enterprise: redistribution of management functions, powers and responsibilities of employees of the management apparatus; creating an incentive system that contributes to the achievement of the goal of the strategic plan, etc. It is important that these organizational changes are carried out not as a reaction of the enterprise to the current situation, which is typical for situational management, but as a result of organizational strategic foresight.

Strategic planning as a separate type of management activity imposes a number of requirements on the employees of the management apparatus, it assumes the presence of five elements:

The first element is the ability to model the situation. This process is based on a holistic view of the situation, which includes the ability to understand the patterns of interaction between the needs and consumer demand of buyers, competitors with the quality of their products and the needs of their own company, i.e. its ability to meet customer needs. Thus, the most important part of strategic planning is analysis. However, the complexity and inconsistency of the initial data give rise to the complexity and variability of the analytical work performed within the framework of strategic planning, making it difficult to model the situation. In this regard, the role of the analyst can hardly be overestimated: the greater his ability to abstract, the more clearly the connections between the components that gave rise to the situation are revealed. The ability to move from the concrete to the abstract and back again is an essential condition for competence in matters of strategy. Using this ability to develop a strategic plan, you can identify the need and possibility of changes in the company.

The second element is the ability to identify the need for change in the firm. The intensity of changes in enterprises and organizations in the conditions market economy much higher than planned, which is explained by the greater dynamism of the external market environment. In conditions of monopoly, any changes are aimed at maintaining the expansion of the company. Now they are represented by a variety of variables that characterize the company: from the efficiency of production costs to the company's attitude to risk, including the nomenclature, product quality and after-sales service. Determining the need for change requires two kinds of abilities:

The willingness of the employees of the management apparatus to respond to trends emerging from the action of known factors in the industry;

Scientific and technical potential, intellect, intuition, creative abilities of managers, which allow, based on a combination of known and unknown factors, to bring the company into readiness for action in unforeseen circumstances, to find opportunities to increase its competitiveness.

The third element is the ability to develop a change strategy. The search for a rational strategy is an intellectual, creative process of finding an acceptable option for the functioning of an enterprise. It is based on the ability of managers and specialists to foresee the development of a situation, to recreate a "mosaic" of future events from separate disparate factors. Developers of a strategic plan should be able to write various scenarios and be proficient in forecasting tools.

The fourth is the ability to use reliable methods in the course of change. The arsenal of means and methods of strategic planning is quite large. It includes: strategic models based on operations research methods; the Boston Advisory Group (BCG) matrix; experience curve; model McKinsey "75"; Mysigma's profitability chart, etc. These and other models of strategic planning are discussed in detail in the work of B. Karlof "Business Strategy".

The fifth element is the ability to implement the strategy. There is a two-way connection between the strategy as a scientifically based plan and the practical activities of the employees of the enterprise. On the one hand, any action that is not supported by a plan usually turns out to be useless. On the other hand, the process of thinking, not accompanied by practical activity, is also fruitless. Therefore, employees of the enterprise engaged in the implementation of the strategy must know the technology.

The term "strategic management" was introduced at the turn of the 60s and 70s in order to distinguish between current management at the production level and management carried out at the highest level. However, it does not follow from this that firms did not perform this function at all before this period. The need to distinguish between strategic and current management is due, first of all, to two circumstances: the features of capital management and production management; business conditions.

An enlarged enterprise management system in a market economy can be represented as three interrelated, but relatively independent components (levels): administration; organizations; management.

The administration as a subject of management is represented by the owners of the capital of the enterprise, for example, in joint stock company- shareholders. In order to effectively manage | enterprise, the administration creates an appropriate organization, which is represented by the management apparatus and the regulations of its work. The construction of a rational organization is carried out, in addition to the owners of the capital of the enterprise, by the relevant specialists - the organizers of production and management. For the effective management of an enterprise within the framework of an established organization, the administration hires a staff of managers and specialists called managers. The conditionality of such a division is that the same person can simultaneously be in three blocks, for example, a shareholder can be an employee of the company, i.e. act as manager and organizer. Therefore, it is customary to talk about three levels of management: top, middle and bottom. Leaders at the highest (institutional) level, which is represented by the administration, are mainly engaged in the development of long-term (long-term) plans, the formulation of goals, the adaptation of the enterprise to various kinds of changes, the management of relations between the enterprise and the external environment, i.e. what we call strategic planning. Managers of the middle and lower levels, which is mainly represented by hired managers, within the framework of the strategy developed at the highest level, perform the functions of managing processes and operations, which is the tactics of the enterprise.

Strategic (prospective) and tactical (current) management have their own characteristics, methodology and implementation algorithms. As a leading idea, reflecting the essence of the transition to strategic planning from current management, was the need to shift the focus of top management to the environment of the enterprise in order to timely and appropriately respond to changes taking place in it.

The differences between strategic and operational management can be seen in a number of design features that have been proposed by authoritative strategic management theorists (Ansoff, 1972; Schendel and Hatten, 1972; Irwin, 1974; Pierce and Robertson, 1985 and etc.) (Table 4.1).

	Comparative characteristics of the signs of strategic and operational management
signs		operational management	Strategic management
1. Mission (purpose) of the enterprise		The enterprise exists for the production of goods and services in order to receive income from the sale	Survival of the enterprise in the long term by establishing a dynamic balance with the external environment
2. Management focus		The internal structure of the enterprise, finding ways to efficiently use resources	The external environment of the enterprise, creating competitive advantages and barriers, tracking changes in the external environment, adapting to changes in the environment
3. Accounting for the time factor		Orientation to the medium and short term	Long-term perspective
4. Factors of building a control system		Functions, methods, organizational structures of management; technique and technology of management; organization and management process	Personnel, moral and material incentives, information support, market
5. Personnel management		View of the staff as a resource of the enterprise	A look at employees as a scientific and technical potential, a source of well-being of the enterprise
6. Evaluation of effectiveness		Resource Efficiency	Speed ​​and adequacy of response to changes in the external environment

Strategic planning is a type of planning that relies on human potential as the basis of an enterprise's activities; orients production activities to the needs of consumers; provides the necessary transformations in the organization, adequate to the changes taking place in the external environment, which allows the enterprise to survive and achieve its goals in the long term.

The lack of a strategic approach to enterprise management is often the main reason for defeat in the market struggle. This can manifest itself in two forms, characterizing the songs and the order in which the plan was developed.

Firstly, the enterprise plans its activities based on the assumptions that the external environment will not change at all or that it will not undergo qualitative changes that may affect the life of the enterprise. In practice, this approach gives rise to the desire to draw up long-term plans that strictly regulate business processes and operations, do not provide for the possibility of their adjustment. Such a plan is based on the extrapolation of existing business practices into the future. At the same time, the strategic plan should provide for what the organization must do today to achieve the desired goal in the future, based on the fact that the external environment will change. Thus, the main task of strategic planning is to anticipate the state of the external environment in relation to the enterprise in the future and outline a set of response measures to these changes that would ensure the achievement of the goal of the enterprise's functioning.

Secondly, in traditional approaches to planning, the development of a plan begins with an analysis of the internal capabilities and resources of the enterprise. In this case, as a rule, it turns out that the company is not able to achieve its goal, since this achievement is related to the needs of the market and the behavior of competitors. A detailed analysis of internal capabilities allows

determine how many products the company can produce, i.e. the production capacity of the enterprise and the level of costs for the production of this quantity of products. The number of products sold and the sale price remain unknown. Therefore, this planning technique goes against the idea of ​​strategic planning based on market research.

Structure of strategic planning

Strategic planning can be viewed as a dynamic set of six interrelated management processes that logically follow one from the other. At the same time, there is a stable feedback and influence of each process on the others.

The strategic planning process includes:

Definition of the mission of the enterprise, organization;

Formulation of goals and objectives of the functioning of the enterprise, organization;

Assessment and analysis of the external environment;

Assessment and analysis of the internal structure;

Development and analysis of strategic alternatives;

Choice of strategy.

The strategic management process (except for strategic planning) also includes:

Strategy implementation;

Evaluation and control of the implementation of the strategy.

As can be seen from fig. 4.3, strategic planning is one of the components of strategic management. Strategic management is sometimes seen as a synonym for the term "strategic planning". However, it is not. Strategic management, in addition to strategic planning, contains a mechanism for implementing decisions.

The main components of strategic planning:

1. Definition of the mission of the organization. This process consists in establishing the meaning of the existence of the company, its purpose, role and place in a market economy. In foreign literature, this term is usually called the corporate mission or business concept. It characterizes the direction in business that firms are guided by, based on market needs, the nature of consumers, product features and the presence of competitive advantages.

2. Formulation of goals and objectives. To describe the nature and level of business claims inherent in a particular type of business, the terms "goals" and "objectives" are used. Goals and objectives should reflect the level of customer service. They should create motivation for people working in the firm. The target picture must have at least four types of targets:

Quantitative goals;

quality goals;

Strategic goals;

Tactical targets, etc.

Goals for the lower levels of the firm are seen as objectives.

3. Analysis and assessment of the external environment. This process is usually considered the initial process of strategic planning, as it provides the basis for developing a strategy for behavior.

Analysis of the environment involves the study of its two components:

macro environments;

immediate environment.

Analysis of the macro environment includes the study of the impact on the firm of such components of the environment as:

The state of the economy;

Legal regulation;

Political processes;

Natural environment and resources;

Social and cultural components of society;

Scientific and technological level;

Infrastructure, etc.

The immediate environment is analyzed according to the following main components:

Customer;

The supplier;

Competitors;

labor market.

4. Analysis and assessment of the internal structure (environment). An analysis of the internal environment allows you to determine those internal capabilities and potential that a company can count on in the competition in the process of achieving its goals. Analysis of the internal environment allows you to better understand the goals of the company and formulate its mission.

The internal environment is investigated in the following areas:

Personnel potential;

Management organization;

Finance;

Marketing;

Organizational structure, etc.

5. Development and analysis of strategic alternatives, choice of strategy (stage 5, 6). This process is rightfully considered the heart of strategic planning, as it makes decisions about how the company will achieve its goals and realize the corporate mission. To make effective strategic choices, senior managers must have a clear, shared vision for the firm. The strategic choice must be definite and unambiguous.

6. Implementation of the strategy. Execution of the strategic plan is a critical process, because in the case of a real plan leads the company to success. It often happens the other way around: a well-designed strategic plan can "fail" if steps are not taken to implement it.

It is not uncommon for firms to fail to implement their chosen strategy. Reasons for this:

Incorrect analysis and erroneous conclusions;

Unforeseen changes in the external environment;

The inability of the firm to involve its internal potential in the implementation of the strategy.

Successful implementation of the strategy is facilitated by compliance with the following requirements:

The goals and activities of the strategy should be well structured, communicated to employees and accepted by them;

It is necessary to have a clear plan of action for the implementation of the strategy, providing for the provision of the plan with all the necessary resources.

7. Evaluation and control of the strategy. Evaluation and control of the implementation of the strategy is the logical final process in strategic planning. This process provides feedback between the process of achieving the goals of the strategic plan and the goals themselves. The means of ensuring such compliance is control, which has the following tasks:

Definition of the system of controlled parameters;

Assessment of the state of the parameters of the controlled object;

Finding out the reasons for deviations of object parameters from accepted standards, norms and other standards;

Adjustment, if necessary, of the indicators of the plan or the progress of the implementation of the strategy.

The main task of such control is to find out to what extent the implementation of the strategy leads to the achievement of the company's goals and mission. Therefore, the adjustment based on the results of strategic control can relate to both the strategy and the goals of the company, which fundamentally distinguishes this type of control from operational control, in which the goals of the current plan are unshakable.

Advantages and disadvantages of strategic planning

The main advantage of strategic planning lies in the greater degree of validity of planned indicators, the greater likelihood of the implementation of the planned scenarios for the development of events.

The current pace of change in the economy is so fast that strategic planning seems to be the only way to formally predict future problems and opportunities. It provides the top management of the company with the means to create a plan for the long term, provides a basis for decision-making, helps reduce risk in decision-making, ensures the integration of the goals and objectives of all structural divisions and performers of the company.

In the domestic practice of enterprise management, strategic planning is rarely used. However, in the industry of developed countries, it is becoming the rule rather than the exception.

Features of strategic planning.

Should be supplemented by the current one;

Strategic plans are developed at meetings of the top management of the firm annually;

The annual detailing of the strategic plan is carried out simultaneously with the development of the annual financial plan (budget);

Most Western companies believe that the strategic planning mechanism should be improved.

Along with the obvious advantages, strategic planning has a number of disadvantages that limit its scope and deprive it of universality in solving any economic problems.

Disadvantages and limitations of strategic planning:

1. Strategic planning does not and cannot, due to its nature, give a detailed description of the picture of the future. What it can give is a qualitative description of the state to which the company should strive in the future, what position it can and should take in the market and in business in order to respond to main question whether or not the firm will survive in the competitive struggle.

2. Strategic planning does not have a clear algorithm for drawing up and implementing the plan. His descriptive theory boils down to a particular philosophy or ideology of doing business. Therefore, specific tools largely depend on the personal qualities of a particular manager, and in general, strategic planning is a symbiosis of intuition and art of top management, the manager's ability to lead the company to strategic goals. The goals of strategic planning are ensured by the following factors: high professionalism and creativity of employees; close connection of the organization with the external environment; product updates; improving the organization of production, labor and management; implementation of current plans; inclusion of all employees of the enterprise in the implementation of the goals and objectives of the enterprise.

3. The process of strategic planning for its implementation requires a significant investment of resources and time compared to traditional forward planning. This is due to more stringent requirements for the strategic plan. It must be flexible, respond to any changes both within the organization and in the external environment. The number of employees involved in strategic planning is higher than in long-term planning.

4. The negative consequences of strategic planning errors, as a rule, are much more serious than in traditional, long-term planning. Especially tragic are the consequences of an incorrect forecast for enterprises engaged in non-alternative economic activities. The high degree of risk in long-term planning can be explained by those areas of production and economic activity in which decisions are made to release new products; directions of investments; new business opportunities, etc.

5. Strategic planning should be complemented by mechanisms for the implementation of the strategic plan, i.e. the effect can be produced not by planning, but by strategic management, the core of which is strategic planning. And this implies, first of all, the creation of an organizational culture at the enterprise that allows the implementation of a strategy, a system of labor motivation, a flexible organization of management, etc. Therefore, the creation of a strategic planning subsystem at a particular enterprise should begin with putting things in order in the management system, with improving the overall management culture, strengthening performance discipline, improving data processing, etc. In this regard, strategic planning is not a panacea for all managerial ills, but only one of the means.



The essence of strategic and long-term planning

A strategy is a general program of action or an overall comprehensive plan for an enterprise that prioritizes problems, resources and a sequence of steps to ensure the implementation of the mission and achievement of the strategic line of the organization.

Strategic planning is the process of forming the mission and goals of the organization, choosing specific strategies for the organization to determine and obtain necessary resources and their distribution in order to ensure the effective operation of the organization in the future. In a market economy, when an enterprise is considered as an open system, it is necessary to take into account both internal factors (opportunities) and external factors (the influence of consumers, competitors, sales markets, etc.).

There are two definitions that characterize the forward planning process:

• Long-term planning - is based on extrapolation of the current development trend, i.e. making plans from the past to the future. At the same time, all past patterns and structural characteristics carried over to future development.
• Strategic planning.

The hallmark of strategic planning is the construction of plans from the future to the present. A special place is given to the analysis of the prospects of the enterprise, whose task is those trends, dangers, opportunities and individual emergencies that can reverse the current trend.

The first approach (long-term planning) is typical for planning the production of products that are in the development stage and are characterized by stability. technological processes and characteristics.

The second approach (strategic planning) is effective for the process of updating products, creating new industries and reorganizing existing ones.

Strategic planning is iterative, i.e. an iterative process of defining strategic goals for the development of an enterprise, developing strategies to achieve these goals and allocating the resources necessary for this.

The strategic planning process can be represented as the following sequence of actions:

• Evaluation of strategies;
• Analysis of alternatives;
• Choice of strategy;
• Strategy management;
• Analysis of the external environment;
• Analysis of strengths and weaknesses;
• Goals;
• Mission.

The planning process is complex because due to the presence of feedback between different stages development of each of them can be repeated several times. The complexity of the planning process is determined by the content of each stage, which requires a large amount of research work.

Mission and goals

The mission is the main overall goal of the organization, a clearly expressed reason for its existence. Goals are developed to carry out this mission. The mission should not depend on the current state of the enterprise. The mission is not accepted as main goal indicate the receipt of profit, tk. this can significantly limit the range of development paths and directions considered by the organization, which will lead to inefficient work.

The overall goal of the organization - forms the basis for developing the strategy of the organization and setting key goals for the most important subsystems of the organization:

• Marketing;
• Production;
• Research work;
• Staff;
• Finance;
• Management.

Target characteristics:

• Goals should be specific and measurable.
• There should be an orientation of goals in time (long-term - five or more years, medium-term - from 1 year to 5 years, short-term - up to 1 year).
• Goals must be achievable. Setting goals that exceed the organization's capabilities due to limited resources or external factors can be disastrous.
• The objectives of the organization must be mutually supportive, i.e. actions and decisions necessary to achieve one goal should not interfere with the achievement of other goals.

Objectives will only be a significant part of strategic planning when they are properly formulated, effectively communicated, and management is informed about them and stimulates implementation throughout the organization.

Analysis of the external environment

Enables an organization to anticipate threats and opportunities in a timely manner, develop contingency plans for contingencies, and develop a strategy that will enable the organization to achieve established goals and transform potential threats into profitable opportunities.

Threats and opportunities faced by an organization can be divided into seven areas:

• Economic forces;
• political factors;
• Market factors;
• technological factors;
• Competition factors;
• International factors;
• Other off-system factors.

Modern manufacturing enterprises both here in Russia and abroad, the so-called PEST-analysis.

PEST analysis- it marketing tool, designed to identify political (Political), economic (Economic), social (Social) and technological (Technological) aspects of the external environment that affect the company's business. The results of the PEST analysis make it possible to assess the external economic situation in the sphere of production and commercial activities.



Strategic planning is the most important type of managerial activity in an enterprise. Development big business requires building well-designed plans, effective implementation of the decisions that they provide, as well as an adequate assessment of the results of work. What are the main stages of strategic planning? What factors can influence their content?

What is strategic planning?

Before exploring the stages of strategic planning as essential element enterprise management, consider the approaches of researchers to understanding the essence of the corresponding term.

There is a widespread point of view according to which strategic planning can be understood as the process of developing and maintaining mechanisms to ensure a balance between long-term business goals and the possibilities of achieving them in the current market conditions. The main task of strategic planning is the identification by management of fundamental resources, due to which the prospective development of the enterprise is possible.

Key planning steps

The main stages of strategic planning, according to researchers, can be recorded in the following list:

• definition of key business objectives;
• analysis of the social environment in which the enterprise operates (in market, legal, political aspects);
• choosing an effective strategy;
• implementation of the provisions of the strategy;
• evaluating the results of solving the tasks set.

Let us now consider the specifics of the marked points in more detail.

Planning Stages: Setting Goals

So, the first stage of strategic planning is the formation of key goals. If we are talking about a company that is considered commercial and operates on a free market, then the corresponding item in the plan may be related to the process of market expansion. Thus, key business development goals can be related to:

• with a specific market share,
• with an increase in revenue to specific indicators,
• with the provision of brand representation in such and such a geography of the market.

Goal setting will largely depend on the current stage of business development. So, for a start-up enterprise, perhaps, the priority will be just the same capitalization, accompanied by an increase in revenue or the value of fixed assets. For larger businesses, the emphasis in development will probably be formed based on the need to expand the geography of its presence in the market.

The first stage of strategic planning may include an activity that involves some philosophical aspects of the company's development. That is, the firm can set itself a goal that is not only to achieve some economic indicators, but also, for example, designed to solve a significant social, ideological problem. As, for example, the stimulation of science in the region or the growth of popularity of any educational specializations through the creation of jobs that require appropriate qualifications from employees. It can be noted that some businesses generally do not consider aspects related to profitability when setting an appropriate goal. The philosophical, ideological component of business development becomes a priority for them.

However, no matter what the methodology for setting goals, they must meet a number of criteria. Namely: orientation to a specific period of time, measurability (in units of currency, in the number of specialists in a particular specialization), consistency with other goals, company resources, controllability (there are ways to monitor the processes that accompany the achievement of the goal, as well as intervene in them if necessary) .

Once the objectives are set, the firm can begin to implement the next steps in the strategic planning process. In particular, the analysis of the social environment. Let's take a look at its key features.

Planning stages: analysis of the social environment

The stages of strategic planning include those that are associated, as we noted above, with the analysis of the social environment in which the company operates. The components of this can be: market, legal, socio-economic, as well as political sphere.

What are the most important characteristics of the first section of the social environment? Among these:

• the level of competition (which can be assessed, for example, based on the number of players operating in a given segment);
• current and potential intensity of demand;
• characteristics of the infrastructure (the quality of transport communications used by businesses in the course of interaction with suppliers, as well as in the delivery of goods to the end consumer).

If we talk about the legal component of the social infrastructure, then its key characteristics can be called:

• the intensity of taxation, determined by the relevant legal acts- for example, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, federal laws, regional and municipal sources of law, which fix the criteria for collecting taxes at one level or another;
• the presence of legal barriers to starting a business (this may be expressed in the need to obtain licenses, certificates, other permits);
• predetermined by the provisions of various sources of law, the intensity of inspections and supervisory procedures, reporting obligations to the Federal Tax Service and other authorities.

Regarding the socio-economic sphere, as one of the components of the social environment, it is worth saying that its key characteristics can be as follows:

• the level of purchasing power of the population (if the target audience is individuals);
• solvency of the target category of clients in the status of legal entities;
• current unemployment rates;
• socio-cultural characteristics target group clients;
• solvency and reliability of suppliers.

Another important component of the social environment in which the company will operate and in relation to which it is necessary to conduct analysis is the political sphere. In some cases, it is advisable for companies that make up the stages of strategic planning to analyze the marked area as a priority. It happens that the state of affairs in politics affects business to a much greater extent than certain economic calculations. The main characteristics of the political sphere as an element of the social environment in which the company will develop are considered to be:

• the level of openness of borders, the availability of certain foreign markets;
• the level of development of democratic procedures in the country;
• political stability in general (predetermined, for example, by the level of public confidence in the authorities).

Some analysts believe that this list should include one more item - the level of political competition, that is, the presence in the system of political institutions of channels through which any person can participate in elections and other political communications. The electoral qualification on any grounds must therefore be reduced to a minimum. However, this point of view has a counterargument, which lies in the fact that the effective development of the economy and business can be carried out even with minimal political competition - as, for example, in China or Singapore.

Methods for analyzing the social environment

The most important nuance that characterizes the stages of strategic planning we are considering is the methods that company managers can use in the course of solving certain problems. The correct management tools are especially significant in the analysis of the social environment in which the enterprise operates. Let's study the corresponding methods in more detail.

Modern researchers consider one of the most effective SWOT analysis. SWOT is an abbreviation of the English words strenghts - " strengths”, weaknesses - “weaknesses”, opportunities - “opportunities”, as well as threats - “threats”. Thus, each of the above components of the social environment - the market, the legal, socio-economic and political sphere - can be studied for the strengths, weaknesses of the company, opportunities and threats that characterize business communication in interaction: with competitors, if we talk about market analysis , with the state in terms of law enforcement practice, if we talk about the legal sphere, with consumers and suppliers, if we talk about the socio-economic sphere, with political structures.

Another notable method that enterprise managers can use when developing the steps in the strategic planning process is portfolio analysis. It is especially effective in the study of the market component of the social environment in which the company will develop. With the help of portfolio analysis, the company's management can analyze its business model and identify the most and least promising areas of communication with external players, the most effective investment options, the most attractive ideas and concepts for the development of the company.

So, after the problem under consideration, which includes the stages of strategic planning - analysis of the social environment, has been solved, the company's managers can move on to the next one - choosing an effective business development strategy. Let's consider it in more detail.

Stages of planning: choosing a strategy

What can be the strategic plans considered by the managers of the enterprise? The stages of strategic planning considered by us can, as we noted above, line up at different stages of the development of the company.

Thus, the specifics of planning for a company that has just entered the market, and the priorities determined by the managers of a company that has already become a major player, can differ significantly. Therefore, the choice of a company's development strategy can be largely determined by the stage at which the company is building a business. Of course, the results of analytical studies conducted using the SWOT method, portfolio approach or other tools will also be a significant factor.

Modern experts distinguish the following main business development strategies: stability, growth, reduction. It is also possible to combine them - in this case, a combined strategy is built. Let's study their specifics.

Stability strategy

One of the factors determining the choice of priorities in the development of the company may be, as we noted above, the analysis of the social environment of the enterprise included in the stages of development of strategic planning. In the event that he shows that the current conditions in which the company has to work do not contribute to its active growth, then the management may decide to choose a stability strategy. A similar scenario is possible if, for example, analytical work reveals that the market segment in which the company develops is sufficiently saturated, the level of purchasing power of target customers is average, and the political situation does not allow for the expansion of the brand's presence in foreign markets. The characteristics of a stability strategy, if we talk about a modern commercial enterprise, can be:

• use priority own funds companies;
• limited intensity of attraction of credit funds and portfolio investments;
• focus on reducing costs and increasing, as a result, the profitability of the enterprise;
• Ensuring revenue growth - if possible, optimizing current production operations.

In general, the characteristics of the stages of strategic planning associated with the determination of development priorities will reflect the company's desire to develop at an average pace, use predominantly conservative approaches to business management, and refuse to invest in concepts that are highly likely to be ineffective for all their external attractiveness.

Growth strategy

An analysis of the social environment in which the company will operate can show, for example, that the level of competition in the current market segment is low, the political environment favors interaction with foreign suppliers, and the purchasing power of target customers is high.

In this case, the approaches by which management builds the stages of the organization's strategic planning can be characterized by the desire of the company's leaders to ensure:

• more intensive revenue, possibly accompanied by an increase in costs and a decrease in profitability, but in absolute terms capable of generating more profit;
• active lending, attraction of investors;
• investments in promising innovative concepts.

Reduction strategy

Another possible scenario is that the results of the analytical work indicate that the social working conditions of the company are far from optimal. This can be expressed, for example, in an increase in unemployment and, as a result, a decrease in the purchasing power of the company's target customers.

In this case, the current scale of the business may be unprofitable. As a result, management, building the stages of development of strategic planning, may decide to choose a strategy for reducing the business. Its main characteristics:

• refusal to invest in any major projects;
• reduction of the geographical presence of the brand in regions where the profitability of the business is low;
• cost reduction in order to increase the company's profitability at current turnover;
• early repayment of loans.

What can be a combined business development strategy? As a rule, its application means that the use of certain approaches is predetermined by the state of affairs in a particular business area or in a separate region where the brand is present.

It may well turn out that in one state where the company operates there is an economic crisis, while in another there is sustainable growth national economy. As a result, the management that builds the stages of developing strategic planning may decide to apply a growth strategy in the first country, stability or reduction in the second. The same decision-making principle can apply to different areas of production. For example, it may turn out that the production of televisions is less profitable than the supply of irons to the market. As a result, the management, determining the stages of strategic planning at the enterprise, may decide to make the production of TV sets less intensive, reducing, accordingly, investments in this part of the business, and as for the supply of irons, it will send additional funding to this segment.

The next stage of strategic planning is the actual implementation of those scenarios that are conceived by the company's management. The main task in this case is to determine responsible persons and structures of the company that will be directly involved in the practical implementation of the methods and approaches adopted at the level of top managers. Let's study it in more detail.

Planning Stages: Strategy Implementation

The sequence of stages of strategic planning includes, therefore, not only the theoretical part, but also the practice of implementing those decisions that have been developed by the management of the enterprise. As we noted above, the key task in this case is the appointment of responsible persons who will be directly involved in the activities under consideration. The company's management will, first of all, competently delegate the necessary powers to the level of subordinate structures. In addressing this challenge, managers will need to pay attention to:

• determining the mechanisms for financing the necessary activities;
• building internal control and reporting procedures;
• determining the criteria for the quality of work of responsible persons and structures of the organization that are involved in the implementation of the chosen strategy.

After the decisions made by managers are put into practice, it is necessary to trace their effectiveness, evaluate the results of the managers' work.

Planning stages: evaluation of results

The considered stage has a very simple content. In fact, all that needs to be done by managers or those structures that are responsible for evaluating the results of the practical implementation of approaches to business development is to compare the results with the goals that were set at the first stage. In some cases, it may also be necessary to correctly interpret the results - when it comes to reporting to the owners or investors of the company.

So, strategic planning includes stages arranged in a certain logical sequence. The most important thing for managers is to follow the order in working on each of them. This criterion is one of the key ones in terms of achieving the desired results in business development.

The implementation of business development projects in itself does not yet indicate a deployed and developed enterprise strategic management. However, in a systematically surviving and prospering company, project portfolios are implemented in accordance with strategic action plans that are the result of higher-level processes. Strategic planning is central to the processes strategic management and implements, perhaps, the most difficult part of the work of planning the activities of a modern enterprise.

Essential aspects of strategic planning

Ancient Greek philosophers considered strategy to be "the art of generals." Metaphorically strategy modern business can be considered as "a magnificent path to wealth." As an applied phenomenon, the company's strategy should be considered in a broad and narrow sense. In a broad sense, it refers to the special skill of the general manager in the long term to anticipate and accept external and internal challenges.

In a narrow sense, strategy is a plan for the long-term development of a company with an established planning horizon that can lead the business to significant success. By such success, we mean a qualitatively new state of business in relation to its role and place in the alignment of industry forces. Narrowing the concept of strategy even more, we state that this is a document, and this form of displaying a long-term plan is becoming increasingly important in the modern world. greater value. Here are a few criteria for a good strategy that emerge from a review of the document:

• gives rise to a sense of pride of the owner for the future materialized image of his business;
• paints a picture of the growing wealth of the owners;
• creates an image of ensuring the company's competitiveness in the short and long term;
• forms the satisfaction of the key personnel of the company.

Strategic planning, as a concept much more specific than the organization's strategy itself, is perceived more clearly and simply. First, the level of planning formalization is much higher. Secondly, the composition of the documents resulting from the process is obvious. Under this type of planning, we mean a systematic procedure for developing a set of long-term measures for the conduct and development of business. This complex should guarantee the creation of profit by obtaining and maintaining competitive advantages in the long term.

The essence of strategic planning lies in several key aspects of the business strategy itself.

1. First, the unfolding planning process is designed to eliminate the root cause of the business problem. Problems are almost always present within the company's management system and do not allow to properly accept and reflect external market challenges and internal threats.
2. Secondly, strategic planning in an enterprise is an important procedure for creating a correspondence between its long-term goals, chances and opportunities for minimizing risk situations in the future.
3. Thirdly, the essence and functions of strategic planning reproduce the modeling of the future of the company on the basis of the developed goals and the concept of long-term development.
4. Finally, fourthly, strategic planning is a procedure for regularly adapting and adjusting the plans themselves as the situation changes, while maintaining the same vision, mission, values ​​and long-term goals.

Relationship between strategic planning and management

The concept of a functional layout of management procedures is widespread, in which one of the functions is planning. The process of strategic planning is part of strategic management as the supreme element of the control system. But the breadth of this planning is specific.

The peculiarities of strategic planning make it difficult to draw a dividing line between proper planning, analysis, and organization. This system regularly reproduces the set of formalized results from the concept strategic development companies to a plan of strategic initiatives, further converted into projects. The process of creating system results includes the following basic steps.

1. Formation of the AS-IS model. Situational analysis of the external environment and resource potential of the company.
2. Start of work on the AS-TO-BE model. Clarification of vision, mission. Finding the root problem. Development of long-term goals of the company and conceptual decoding of the plan for their implementation. Transformation of qualitative goals into quantitative ones. profit models.
3. Development of a basic strategy based on the selected alternatives and adopted development and growth strategies. Building a top level company.
4. Development of business strategy, functional, product and regional strategies.
5. Development of a plan for strategic initiatives and an enlarged model of the stages of strategy implementation.

The purpose of planning is to make fundamental and optimal long-term decisions, while strategic management is focused on achieving the results laid down in the strategy. Results can mean: market share, new products, markets, technologies, etc. Speaking of strategic management, we mean, first of all, organizational actions based on the results of planning. In turn, strategic planning is an analytical and planning process.

Model for incorporating strategic planning into strategic management

Above is a model of the strategic management process. On it we see the planning block highlighted in blue, which captures the stage of implementation and implementation of the strategy through the development of a plan for strategic initiatives. Further, the process seems to bifurcate (this is not shown in the diagram). On the one hand, it descends to the level of tactics, where a corporate portfolio of development projects is formed from the position of an investment strategy. On the other hand, taking into account the main goal of strategic management, thanks to the activities of strategic controlling, the focus of the company's management is kept on object-time results.

Goals and objectives of strategy planning

Strategic planning of the enterprise's activity is developed at the initiative of its owners. Sooner or later, depending on the stage life cycle commercial organization, its organizational and legal form (PJSC, NAO, LLC), shareholders, owners of the enterprise withdraw themselves from the operational management of the business or are removed by law. WITH CEO the company concludes a contract, the key points of which must be built in accordance with the strategy that serves as the basis for transferring responsibility for the result to him.

Essentially, a “documented boundary” is drawn between the business owners and the CEO in the form of a strategy. It ends the competences and powers of the owners, represented by the board of directors, and begins the rights and responsibilities of the State Duma. The role of strategic planning is to act as an instrument for such a transfer of responsibility, which at the same time opens up carte blanche for management actions over a long contract period. Taking into account the remarks presented above, let us designate the main goals of planning at the strategic level.

1. To form an image of the prospective state of the organization, corresponding to the vision, mission and challenges of the environment of its activities.
2. Formulate the composition of tasks for the general manager for the period of his management of the company under the contract.

Model of target orientation of strategic planning of the company

We can expand the indicated goals into strategic planning tasks using the model presented above. At the same time, it should be remembered that in the implementation of past, modern and future strategies there are internal blocking points that are in the nature of problems that must be diagnosed with the search for a way to eliminate them. Among the tasks of planning in strategic management are the following:

• perform a dynamic analysis of the development of the company and the implementation of the current strategy;
• conduct an analysis of the external environment and the internal state of the company on this moment(AS-IS);
• identify the root problem of business management and approve a way to eliminate it;
• clarify the vision and mission of the company;
• formulate business development goals;
• develop strategic concept company development;
• make fundamental and optimal decisions on the ways, methods and means of the company's transition to the TO-BE state;
• develop a plan for strategic initiatives;
• clarify the policies arising from the main functional strategies: financial, marketing, personnel, investment, etc.

Types and functions of strategy planning

In the modern world, event flows are accelerating. Is there a limit to this? What to rely on and in what time frame? It seems to me that the acceleration is artificial. In a company whose management respects the regular management paradigm, there must be four unshakable things even in conditions of instability. According to the degree of immutability, they are located from top to bottom, moreover, the third and fourth positions can change places according to the situation.

1. Vision.
2. Mission.
3. Politicians.
4. strategic goals.

The goals predetermine the action programs for the implementation of the strategy, which, depending on the dynamics of the situation, may undergo changes. This circumstance is due to the variability of the composition of focuses that management should pay attention to when moving towards business goals. The external environment is constantly being transformed, the resource composition possessed by the company is changing, and irreversible force majeure acts arise. This, one way or another, forms the species differences and the specific content of the planning activities of the highest level of the hierarchy.

The following types of strategic planning are distinguished in the literature:

• long-term;
• mid-term;
• short term;
• operational planning.

On the one hand, we can agree that, based on the principles of planning, a hierarchical approach can take place. But this seems to me a bit of a stretch, because if long-term planning intersects somewhere with strategic planning, then other types, even in organizational nature, differ greatly from activities related to strategy. Another issue is that the dichotomous process of strategic planning of an organization can be implemented with the allocation of a managerial-strategic function or without creating a separate unit.

In addition, strategic planning at the enterprise in the policy of business management is subject to initiation with a given frequency or must begin when significant changes occur in the external environment. Based on these suggested remarks, I would highlight the appropriate types of planning. However, the lack of a deep methodological study of the classes of this type of activity only indicates that the development of strategic management in Russia has not yet passed the stage of "youth". The specific differentiation of activities is also determined by the branch of the economy in which the business operates, and the functional content of the planning process. Traditionally, strategic planning performs the following four functions.

1. The function of mobilization and internal coordination of the company's management.
2. An adaptive function that ensures the company's adaptation to changing business conditions.
3. The distribution function of existing and prospective business resources.
4. The function of development of system managerial thinking.

Basic Strategy Planning Methodologies

The methodology of strategic planning in the history of world management thought originates at Harvard. A business school known for its ideas in the field of the SWOT analysis method, it was a scientific center in which the theory of the strategic planning model was developed, which later became a classic. The scheme of this model is presented to your attention below.

Harvard Business School Strategic Planning Chart

Based on the opportunities of the market environment and using its strengths, the company proceeds to formulate a strategy. The strategic planning process uses, on the one hand, the success factors found at the intersection of opportunities and threats posed by the environment. On the other hand, the willingness of the company to cope with its weaknesses and use the potential of its strength helps to create and retain unique competitive advantages at a strategic level. The methodology developed at Harvard School requires the use of special principles strategic planning, among which the main ones are the following.

1. The principle of assigning responsibility for developing a strategy to a hired head of the company. The one who will execute it should develop the strategic plan, and the board of directors authorized by the owners should accept it.
2. The principle of systematized and logically built thinking of a strategy, excluding the suddenness and spontaneous nature of its formulation.
3. The principle of information. The content of strategic planning procedures should be accessible, simple and at the same time concentrated and informative.
4. The principle of uniqueness and creativity of the project development of the strategy.
5. The principle of product completeness of the strategic planning process implies the finiteness of the optimal choice of strategy among possible alternatives.
6. The principle of conciseness and simplicity of perception of the text of the strategy.
7. The principle of realizability of the formulated strategy.

The principles of strategic planning formulated for the Harvard methodology are fully suitable for all subsequent models, which in fact are its schematic interpretation. Another traditional development is the model of Igor Ansoff. The features of strategic planning according to Ansoff consist in the use of the most formalized procedures for formulating a strategy at the level of a fairly detailed and rigid flowchart, in replacing the value plan of business management with a clear setting of goals. Among other things, the American scientist introduced numerous feedback which allowed to significantly develop the principle of interactivity and continuity of the planning process. A simplified model by I. Ansoff is presented below.

Simplified scheme of strategic planning by I. Ansoff

Instrumental content of the methodology

The essence of strategic planning is manifested through the contour of its phased implementation. The quantitative composition of these stages and their content varies widely, depending on factors such as:

• form of ownership of the enterprise;
• branch of activity;
• stage of the company's life cycle;
• scale of activity;
• level of activity differentiation;
• type of business management system.

Generalized scheme of strategic planning technology in the company

On the whole, modern technology strategy planning is built into a certain technological chain, which is summarized in the diagram above. We will not touch on the issue of mission development in our article, we will immediately move on to overall strategy, which includes the following items strategic planning:

• development strategies;
• growth strategies;
• corporate strategy;
• competitive strategy.

These are the four main strategies. And if the first three relate to the long term, then, starting with a competitive strategy, plans are built for the medium term closer to the present moment in time. Regarding corporate strategy, it should be noted that this is not a company strategy as such, and not every company has it, since only diversified, diversified businesses need it. In other words, corporate strategy is portfolio in nature and is not required if the business is mono-in nature.

The development of a competitive strategy is based on a deep analytical study of the operating environment and the state of the company. Numerous strategic planning tools are used for analysis. Among them are the well-known in theory and practice types of analyzes, models that are presented for each meaningful element of the system. strategic analysis in the diagram below. All the presented methods of strategic planning, of course, are not mandatory for use in specific development plan, but serve as powerful auxiliary resources, the choice of which depends on managerial experience and skill.

Correspondence scheme of the tools used at the stage of developing a competitive strategy

After the procedure for selecting strategic alternatives, the development of functional strategies follows: development of sales, production, R&D, finance, personnel, marketing, etc. Strategic planning at each iteration ends with the adoption and approval of a document called the “strategic plan of the company”, which serves as a target for adoption for at least several years. tactical decisions and for operational management. A summary of this document is presented below.

Problems of strategic planning

Unfortunately, we have to admit that modern system strategic planning, which has developed in many companies, causes a certain nihilism among top management. A natural question arises: did the peak of popularity pass to strategic management and did it really exist? It seems that the hopes for the "golden formula" of the strategy did not materialize to a large extent, and there are several reasons for this. In this regard, we will consider some of the problems that have led many business leaders to understand the current situation with the development of this management component.

1. The most important reason, in my opinion, lies in the fact that the procedures for linking well-formulated strategies with grassroots projects and processes through the same BSC turned out to be extremely cumbersome. At the same time, the dynamics of real events requires regular adjustment of the same corporate cards, for which there are simply no resources, and this is simply unprofitable.
2. Modern models of long-term planning suffer from excessive mechanicalness, lack of flexibility, which is important today. Almost always, at intermediate moments, these models turn out to be irrelevant to a certain extent. The way out can be achieved by scenario modeling with elaboration various options business development. However, this is also a rather expensive exercise, which requires the allocation of the strategy planning function with the advent of a separate structural unit.
3. The third problem has a purely Russian specific coloring and is related to the strategy's aiming at the growth of business capitalization. At first glance, there is nothing wrong with this position. This is a very worthy goal for any owner. However, in domestic practice, the share of speculative investors often exceeds the number of "strategic" shareholders by several times. The positions of the two types of shareholders regarding strategy are often opposite. The first ones are always aimed at the growth of capitalization, because they are focused on the sale of their stake in the end. Strategies developed with such an unspoken message from the owners, to a certain extent, devalue the very idea of ​​\u200b\u200bplanning ahead.

Does everything described above mean that there are no prospects for strategic planning in domestic business? Not at all. I would even say that, on the contrary, there are prospects, and they lie in the plane of our own scientific research and the development of alternative models, and not in the blind translation of the methodology of the best examples of the Western school. As the supreme component of management, strategy gravitates toward the ideological aspect of doing business. In other words, the ideology of the main business owners is important for her, but not only.

Modern companies are in an open system of a global nature, but Russian business is very specific, and it seems to me that in the coming decades its national features will only become stronger. And this means that a new productive concept of strategic planning can be built based on the state ideology and business development strategy. Some progress in this direction is being made, but not enough. I believe that if the state, taking into account world experience, found an opportunity to order applied science new paradigm strategic management, breakthrough Russian companies on the international markets over time would become more likely and successful.