Strategic planning revisited

The purpose of strategic planning is to create a favorable match between the organization's characteristics and its environment. Managers often focus exclusively on adapting the organization to circumstances in its environment. This approach overlooks opportunities for fostering environmental changes that will be favorable for the organization. Such changes often can be achieved through political action. Political action is an extension of the process of maximizing opportunities and averting threats. It requires the additional work of policy analysis and stakeholder assessment followed by developing and implementing a political strategy. The strategy must consider the possibilities for effective intervention at one or more of the five stages of the policy process. The choices also must take into account the positions of other stakeholders and the costs and benefits that the organization anticipates from each of the four strategic approaches: indirect action, collaboration, negotiation, and contest.