What is Strategic Management ?
Once there were two company presidents who competed in the same industry. These two
presidents decided to go on a camping trip to discuss a possible merger. They hiked deep
into the woods. Suddenly, they came upon a grizzly bear that rose up on its hind legs and
snarled. Instantly, the first president took off his knapsack and got out a pair of jogging
shoes. The second president said, “Hey, you can’t outrun that bear.” The first president
responded, “Maybe I can’t outrun that bear, but I surely can outrun you!” This story
captures the notion of strategic management, which is to achieve and maintain competitive
advantage.
Definition of 'SM' Strategic Management;
Strategic management can be defined as the art and science of formulating, implementing,
and evaluating cross-functional decisions that enable an organization to achieve its
objectives.
As this definition implies, strategic management focuses on integrating management,
marketing, finance/accounting, production/operations, research and development, andi nformation systems to achieve organizational success. The term strategic management int this text is used synonymously with the term strategic planning. The latter term is moreo often used in the business world, whereas the former is often used in academia.
Sometimest the term strategic management is used to refer to strategy formulation, implementation, and
evaluation, with strategic planning referring only to strategy formulation. The purpose of
strategic management is to exploit and create new and different opportunities for tomorrow;
long-range planning, in contrast, tries to optimize for tomorrow the trends of today.
Source: Fred.R.Devid "Book" Strategic Management concept
By: SAMIULLAH JALALI
