Business firms, like people, are touched directly and indirectly by political/legal influences at all levels of government (central, state, and local). These influences run the alphabetic gamut from antitrust to zoning. The scale of central intervention in business is matched only by its turbulence. In addition to serving as regulatory bodies, governments also represent a major factor in the private sector through fiscal policy. Taxation and government spending can represent both opportunities and threats, depending upon the nature, timing, and position of the impacted enterprise. And, of ...

Firms that anticipate economic change and identify the constituents through which that change will be applied; can better adapt goals and action plans. Shareholder expectations of financial return are dictated in part by alternative investments and their associated return and risks. Interest rates, tax policies, shareholder incomes, availability of funds for margin-purchased equity investments, and expectations of future economic circumstances will shape changes in equity investor profiles and/or the financial performance expectations of the firm’s owners. Personal income, savings, ...

A great deal must be learned about an organization so that strategy formulation decisions can be based upon appropriate information. It almost goes without saying that strategists must understand all there is to know about the internal operations of an organization before strategy can be effectively formulated and implemented. The external influences acting on the firm also must be analyzed, documented, and understood to mange and implement the strategies effectively. An organization’s environment consists of two parts: The industry within which it operates (for multi-business firms, the ...

SWOT  is an acronym for internal Strength (S) and Weakness (W) of an organization, and external Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) facing that organization. A  merging of the organization’s resources with the opportunities in the environment results in an assessment of the organization’s opportunities. This merging is frequently called SWOT analysis because it brings together the organization’s Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats in order to identify a strategic niche that the organization can exploit. Having completed the SWOT analysis, the organization reassesses its ...

Mission statement is the description of an organization's reasons for existence, its fundamental purpose. It is the guiding principle that drives the processes of goal and action plan formulation, "a pervasive, although general, expression of the philosophical objectives of the enterprise." Mission should focus on long-range economic potentials, attitudes toward customers, product and service quality, employee relations, and attitudes toward owners. It provides identity, continuity of purpose, and overall definition, and should convey the following categories of information. Precisely ...

Defining strategic thinking is made especially difficult by the absence of a consensus on what strategic management is. The explanation for strategic management is that it is an approach to management which fuses strategic planning (plan development through analysis of environment, competition, and strategy choices) and the firm's system of operational decision making. This process has five dimensions. First, strategic management requires a widely understood strategic planning process tightly interwoven with a strategically centered organization structure. Second, it requires widely ...