In past articles, we have discussed the importance of strategic planning. It must include an assessment of the organization’s environment because no organization operates in a vacuum. The very definition of strategic planning stresses the importance of focusing on the future within the context of an ever-changing environment – the myriad of political, economic, social, technological, demographic, and legal forces that change our world daily.
Skill at assessing the environment and then being proactive in responding to that environment (i.e., strategic planning, thinking, and management) determines who is effective in using their resources and, ultimately, who survives. The situation assessment outlines the process of gathering and analyzing the information needed to make an explicit evaluation of an organization in its environment. The situation assessment includes the following activities:
- collecting internal and external stakeholders’ perceptions about the organization
- evaluating products’ impact on clients
- evaluating products through cost/benefit analysis
- analyzing products through competitive analysis
- defining previous implied strategies
At the conclusion of a situation analysis, a strategic planner will have a database of quality information that can be used to make decisions and a list of critical issues which demand a response from the organization — the most important issues the organization needs to deal with in the strategic planning process. Here at Titan Business Development Group, we work with many of our clients on developing situational assessments and then incorporating them into strategic plans. Contact us if you would like to learn more and explore the opportunity to work together on your ever-evolving operating plans.
***
www.TitanBDG.com
