Strategic Management
Strategic management is the art and science of
formulating, implementing and evaluating
cross-functional decisions that will enable an
organisation to realise its objectives. It is the
process of specifying the organization's objectives,
developing policies and tactics to achieve these
objectives, and allocating resources to implement
the policies and plans to achieve the organisation's
objectives. Strategic management, therefore,
combines the activities of the various functional
areas of a business to achieve organisational
objectives. It is the highest level of managerial
activity, usually formulated by the Board of
directors and performed by the organization's Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) and executive team.
Strategic management provides overall direction to
the enterprise and is closely related to the field
of Organisation Studies.
 “Strategic management is an ongoing process that
assesses the business and the industries in which
the company is involved; assesses its competitors
and sets goals and strategies to meet all existing
and potential competitors; and then reassesses each
strategy annually or quarterly [i.e. regularly] to
determine how it has been implemented and whether it
has succeeded or needs replacement by a new strategy
to meet changed circumstances, new technology, new
competitors, a new economic environment., or a new
social, financial, or political environment.” (Lamb,
1984:ix)[2]
There are many software products available in the
market that process and report organisational data
and which aid in strategic management—e.g. SAP, SEM,
SAS, etc.
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