Real Business Cases in Strategic Planning

Book excerpt: This book shows how systematic strategic planning (SSP) can be used on real-world projects for professionals at any skill level. It illustrates how this systematic methodology and its analysis tools—using workshop and brainstorming approaches—can be easily understood and universally applied to any type of business. Rather than explaining the methodology and its tools, the author succinctly shows how to use the simplified version of his methodology for developing strategic plans. But, perhaps more importantly, the reader is shown how to identify which circumstances require the use of particular tools and also how to target them directly to achieve effective results. The SSP methodology and the use of a workshop approach, real-world strategic planning projects, and working forms are presented to guide the reader through preparing the strategic plan for existing or future business. The first part of the book provides an overall framework and briefly describes some of the sections of the systematic pattern of strategic planning. In addition, it explains the use of a workshop approach for strategic planning based on SSP principles. The second part details case studies of strategic planning projects from real-world organizations across a variety of industries. Most of the organizations used both the simplified version of the SSP methodology and the techniques, while others benefited strictly from customizing the SSP methodology.