02 Jul Strategic Planning Vs Strategic Management

Strategic planning and management are separate terms, but they are often used interchangeably.

However, strategic planning and strategic management are different in approach but are incredibly indispensable aspects of business management. It is only when both these processes are used in tandem, that the future decisions of the business are positively impacted.

Let’s try to understand these.

What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is an activity that determines the objectives of the organization. It designs, implements, analyses, and adjusts growth strategies for competitive advantage.

What is strategic management?

Strategic management implies a stream of actions and decisions that are taken by top management for accomplishing organizational goals. Impactful strategies are identified and applied for improving performance and for attaining dominance in the industry as part of strategic management.

Strategic planning vs. strategic management – Salient differences

Strategic planning is a future-oriented activity for determining business strategy and prioritizing requirements, while strategic management comprises of moves that execute these strategies to achieve business goals.

Strategic planning focuses on optimal strategic decisions while strategic management is a result, new market, new products, and novel technology-oriented.

Planning is driven by plans while management is driven by results. Planning is an analytical process and management is action-oriented.

Strategic planning and management – Key benefits

Both strategic planning and strategic management give a direction to an organization for moving forward. All employees, managers, and top-level management are involved together to achieve these goals. Through this, an organization can ensure efficient operations and effective execution.

Both long and short-term goals can be accomplished through the use of strategic planning and management – a major benefit that all growing small and medium businesses can leverage. They can improve upon every level of business, offer growth opportunities to all employees, and increase brand reach.