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Strategic Management : Strategic Planning

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Introduction
Strategic planning in business management is a highly important portion of management as it involves development of plans to ensure growth, success, and above all else, profit. If not analysed correctly a poorly formed strategic plan can result in reduced profit margins. When analysing strategic planning as a discipline, there theorists which develop frameworks to assist managers in how to develop a strategic plan. Of these, Porter’s Five Forces Framework (5FM) is among the most influential of these. However, critics suggest it is not entirely successful and combination with other frameworks such as the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Matrix (SWOT). Theories arise from a number of disciplines, thus the result is contention and opinion differences amid academic literature. Adding to this is that strategic planning is a relatively young discipline, with its origins only beginning in 1960s (Stonehouse & Showdon, 2007).

Theoretical Section
Strategic management is vital to business and ensuring profitability. “Businesses see survival, improvement and success” as objectives (Pickton & Wright, 1998, p.103). Successful strategies are created through analysis of the business industry environment, and involves trade-off’s between operational effectiveness, benchmarks, and cost minimisation (Abdolvan & Asadollahi, 2012; Agarwal, Grassi & Pahl, 2012; Stonehouse & Showdon, 2007). Gary Hemmel comments, in Porter (2010, p.1), that, “Strategy is, above all

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