Businesses today face a myriad of challenges in an effort to make and sustain profits. The environment of conducting business has changed significantly compared to the early 1960s and 1970s but still the situation currently is not static. Interventions and innovations come up every day and this makes the environment very unpredictable. For any organization to survive therefore, it has to formulate and implement a solid plan that withstands the business dynamics and keeps it in a competitive and profitable position. This is why managers are encouraged to adopt strategic planning for their organizations. This study discusses the importance of strategic planning to an organization and the need for management to have a strategic approach in how they view the operations. It illustrates how Strategic thinking leads to strategic planning and upon implementation, how strategic management influences firm performance. Various approaches to strategic planning are examined and the key areas identified and analyzed to show how effective strategic planning enables the survival of a business.
Competitive position, Strategic Planning, Strategic Thinking, Performance, Business Dynamics, Survival
