Strategic Planning Process (strategic + planning_process)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


A Strategic Planning Process for a Small Nonprofit Organization: A Hospice Example

NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 2 2000
Cynthia Massie Mara
Strategic planning is an essential part of management. However, planning processes can consume great amounts of time and resources that small, nonprofit organizations may lack. Moreover, the process that is used can be tedious and may result in plans that are discarded before or during their implementation. In this article, a strategic planning process is presented that incorporates a Policy Delphi group technique and Situation Structuring, a computer program that assists participants in structuring or defining the problems to be addressed in the plan. The organization to which the process is applied is a small, nonprofit hospice. Both the planning process and an evaluation of the implementation of the resultant strategic plan are examined. [source]


Integrating Decentralized Strategy Making and Strategic Planning Processes in Dynamic Environments

JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 8 2004
Torben Juul Andersen
abstract Decentralized post-bureaucratic organizations are deemed to display superior performance in dynamic environments, but recent evidence indicates that centralized integrative cross-functional processes may be equally critical. Accordingly, this paper hypothesizes that organizational performance can be ascribed to the simultaneous emphasis on decentralized strategy making and strategic planning processes. This is investigated in a study of 185 manufacturing organizations operating in diverse industries spanning food processing and computer products. The study shows that both decentralized decision structure and planning activities are associated with higher performance in dynamic environments. These findings confirm that effective organizations engage in more complex strategy formation processes that complement the decentralized post-bureaucratic form with formal mechanisms of rational analyses and operational integration. The paper highlights a need to extend our understanding of the duality between decentralization and planning. [source]


Interdisciplinary Heterogeneity as a Catalyst for Product Innovativeness of Entrepreneurial Teams

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2007
Daniel Henneke
Although more and more ventures are successfully founded by entrepreneurial teams, the specific benefits of the team-based founding approach have received little attention in extant empirical studies. This study explores the relationship between the level of interdisciplinary heterogeneity in entrepreneurial teams and the level of product innovativeness in high-tech ventures. It is proposed that an interdisciplinary new venture team composition impacts the quality of the strategic planning process (scanning activities, planning openness) and thereby indirectly shapes product innovativeness. The hypotheses are investigated using data from a sample of Canadian high-tech ventures. The findings provide support for the proposed relationship between team heterogeneity, strategic planning and product innovativeness. Venture capitalists, university faculty and incubator institutions are therefore well advised to direct their attention towards fostering a heterogeneous composition of founding teams. [source]


Realizing the Potential of Real Options: Does Theory Meet Practice?

JOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE, Issue 2 2005
Alexander Triantis
The idea of viewing corporate investment opportunities as "real options" has been around for over 25 years. Real options concepts and techniques now routinely appear in academic research in finance and economics, and have begun to influence scholarly work in virtually every business discipline, including strategy, organizations, management science, operations management, information systems, accounting, and marketing. Real options concepts have also made considerable headway in practice. Corporate managers are more likely to recognize options in their strategic planning process, and have become more proactive in designing flexibility into projects and contracts, frequently using real options vocabulary in their discussions. Thanks in part to the spread of real options thinking, today's strategic planners are more likely than their predecessors to recognize the "option" value of actions like the following: , dividing up large projects into a number of stages; , investing in the acquisition or production of information; , introducing "modularity" in manufacturing and design; , developing competing prototypes for new products; and , investing in overseas markets. But if real options has clearly succeeded as a way of thinking, the application of real options valuation methods has been limited to companies in relatively few industries and has thus failed to live up to expectations created in the mid- to late-1990s. Increased corporate acceptance and implementations of real options valuation techniques will require several changes coming together. On the theory side, we need more realistic models that better reflect differences between financial and real options, simple heuristic methods that can be more easily implemented (but that have been carefully benchmarked against more precise models), and better guidance on implementation issues such as the estimation of discount rates for the "optionless" underlying projects. On the practitioner side, we need user-friendly real options software, more senior-level buy-in, more deliberate diffusion of real options knowledge throughout organizations, better alignment of managerial incentives with long-term shareholder value, and better-designed contracts to correct the misalignment of incentives across the value chain. If these challenges can be met, there will continue to be a steady if gradual diffusion of real options analysis throughout organizations over the next few decades, with real options eventually becoming not only a standard part of corporate strategic planning, but also the primary valuation tool for assessing the expected shareholder effect of large capital investment projects. [source]


Options for Sustaining School-Based Health Centers

JOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH, Issue 4 2004
Susan M. Swider
ABSTRACT: Several methods exist for financing and sustaining operations of school-based health centers (SBHCs). Promising sources of funds include private grants, federal grants, and slate funding. Recently, federal regulation changes mandated that federal funding specifically for SBHCs go only to SBHCs affiliated with a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). Becoming a FQHC allows a SBHC to bill Medicaid at a higher rate, be notified about federal grants, and access the federal drug-pricing program. However, FQHCs must bill for services, including a sliding-fee scale based on ability to pay; develop a governance board with a majority of consumer members; provide a set of designated primary care services; and serve all people regardless of ability to pay. Private grants impose fewer restrictions and usually provide start-up and demonstration funds for specific program needs. Such funds are generally time limited, so new programs need to be incorporated into the operational budget of the center. State funding proves relatively stable, but fiscal challenges in some states made these funds less available. Using a variety of funding sources will enable ongoing provision of health care to students. Overall, SBHCs should consider infrastructure development that allows a variety of funding options, including formalizing existing partnership commitments, engaging in a needs assessment and strategic planning process, developing the infrastructure for FQHC status, and implementing a billing system for client services. [source]


Predicting the Financial Vulnerability of Charitable Organizations

NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 2 2000
Janet S. Greenlee
This article describes a model that can be used to predict which nonprofit organizations are vulnerable to financial problems. The model is based on financial indicators developed by Tuckman and Chang (1991), adapts methodologies that have been developed in the for-profit sector to predict financial vulnerability, and was empirically tested using a multiyear Internal Revenue Service database provided by the National Center for Charitable Statistics. Both internal and external stakeholders can use the model when making allocation decisions during the strategic planning process and in evaluating financial risk. [source]


A Strategic Planning Process for a Small Nonprofit Organization: A Hospice Example

NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 2 2000
Cynthia Massie Mara
Strategic planning is an essential part of management. However, planning processes can consume great amounts of time and resources that small, nonprofit organizations may lack. Moreover, the process that is used can be tedious and may result in plans that are discarded before or during their implementation. In this article, a strategic planning process is presented that incorporates a Policy Delphi group technique and Situation Structuring, a computer program that assists participants in structuring or defining the problems to be addressed in the plan. The organization to which the process is applied is a small, nonprofit hospice. Both the planning process and an evaluation of the implementation of the resultant strategic plan are examined. [source]


Factors affecting corporate environmental strategy in Spanish industrial firms

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 8 2009
Elena Fraj-Andrés
Abstract During the last 30 years, environmental issues have become very important for governments, consumers and companies. Firms, aware of their environmental responsibilities, have started to show an important commitment to society and the natural environment, developing environmentally friendly strategies. However, the factors that determine the choice of environmental strategies are still unclear. They range from ethical motivations to social, legislative and competitive factors. This study analyses the main antecedents that influence firms' ecological behaviour, distinguishing between environmental orientation and environmental strategies. The hypotheses proposed in this study are analysed by means of a structural equation model on a sample of 235 industrial firms. The results reveal that competitive motivations and management commitment are the most important factors explaining why firms incorporate environmental issues into their strategic planning process. Moreover, management commitment is a critical factor for firms because managers' perception about customers' ecological concern directly influences firms' environmental behaviour. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


Integrating Decentralized Strategy Making and Strategic Planning Processes in Dynamic Environments

JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 8 2004
Torben Juul Andersen
abstract Decentralized post-bureaucratic organizations are deemed to display superior performance in dynamic environments, but recent evidence indicates that centralized integrative cross-functional processes may be equally critical. Accordingly, this paper hypothesizes that organizational performance can be ascribed to the simultaneous emphasis on decentralized strategy making and strategic planning processes. This is investigated in a study of 185 manufacturing organizations operating in diverse industries spanning food processing and computer products. The study shows that both decentralized decision structure and planning activities are associated with higher performance in dynamic environments. These findings confirm that effective organizations engage in more complex strategy formation processes that complement the decentralized post-bureaucratic form with formal mechanisms of rational analyses and operational integration. The paper highlights a need to extend our understanding of the duality between decentralization and planning. [source]