AbstractAsk five or ten different people for a definition of strategic planning or decision making or even planning and you will probably receive five or ten different answers. Most agree that strategic planning is a way to identify long-term goals and to direct your company toward fulfilling those goals.Most also will agree that decision making is a cognitive activity involving the interplay of environmental cues and human cognitive processes, culminating in the selection of one or more possible choices of action (Wickens, 1992). Of course, not with the same wording, but we can translate that to choosing the best option or options from all available alternatives.The reason why every ...view middle of the document...
In addition to a budget, you need long-term goals to determine the future direction of your company.You can use strategic planning to involve employees in all areas of your business, so they share your goals. You can also use your plan to communicate with bankers, who often do not understand the nature of your business. Bankers must be convinced that your company is in control of its future before they will lay their money on the line. A comprehensive plan aimed at sustained growth in sales and earnings can be very convincing.A plan is also very helpful in dealing with your suppliers, advertisers, attorney, accountant, auditor, investors and business consultants.On the article, which focuses on the strategic planning from the Information Systems department's (IS) point of view, shows us how little importance was given to strategic planning when need for new technology implementation arrived. Everyone was too busy making numbers that would at the end cost the company way more numbers than the ones they were making and calculating.The vast opportunities for growth is what motivated the CEO and CIO's to develop new and better ways to come up with a strategic plan that will allow the whole information system to work smoothly."Now, a good IS plan has to keep in mind the internal customers as well as the external customers and vendors, and IS has to work closely with the business side to make sure IS is helping the company stay competitive,"...