single-use plans
(noun)
A strategy for achieving an objective that can only be used in one situation.
Examples of single-use plans in the following topics:
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Overview of Types of Strategic Plans
- The broader overview of strategic plans, as well as the five subgroups within strategic planning, provide businesses with direction.
- Long-range plans are those most closely related to the overall strategic-planning process.
- Single-use plans:As opposed to standing plans, single-use plans cover a specific operation or process that is an outlier to normal operations.
- In all likelihood, a single-use plan will never need to be repeated and will simply cover the content involved in one circumstance.
- Differentiate between the five general planning frames and recognize considerations that must be made prior to planning
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Overview of Inputs to Strategic Planning
- Strategic plans can take the form of business or marketing plans, and consultants and industry experts are used in their development.
- Business strategy refers to the aggregated strategies of a single business firm or a strategic business unit (SBU) in a diversified corporation.
- Solid strategy is the foundation of a well-written marketing plan, and one way to achieve this is by using a method known as the seven Ps (product, place, price, promotion, physical environment, people, and process).
- A product-oriented company may use the seven Ps to develop a plan for each of its products.
- The inclusion of stakeholders offers a variety of tools, each of which may or may not be a useful input depending on the context of the plan.
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What is Strategy?
- A balanced scorecard is a tool sometimes used to evaluate a business's overall performance.
- Another way to keep score of a strategy is to visualize it using a strategy map.
- Guiding Policy: What framework will be used to approach the operations?
- No single strategic managerial method dominates, and the choice between managerial styles remains a subjective and context-dependent process.
- Strategy as plan: a directed course of action to achieve an intended set of goals; similar to the strategic planning concept
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Task Forces
- A task force is a temporary team created to address a single piece of work, a problem, or a goal.
- Navy that demanded flexibility in how resources were used.
- Today, in government, business, and other arenas, task forces are special ad-hoc committees created especially to deal with single problems or issues.
- For example, the U.S.
- Next, the team typically identifies and analyzes possible solutions and develops recommendations and plans for implementing them.
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Limitations of the Five-Forces View
- Like most models, Porter's Five Forces has advantages and limitations when applied to strategic planning processes.
- Like most models, Porter's Five Forces has advantages and limitations when applied to strategic planning processes; one must understand how it is designed to be used and recognize its limitations.
- According to Porter, the Five Forces model is best used at the broader level of an entire industry.
- A firm that competes in a single industry will realistically only need to assess the industry it is in (and perhaps other supporting industries depending upon the situation).
- As strategic planning involves long-term objectives and the pursuit of adaptability, Porter's model is too static to be relied upon outside of short- to medium-term objectives.
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Benefits of Strategic Planning: Focus, Action, Control, Coordination, and Time Management
- Since they have achieved defined goals through the planning process, managers and employees can focus and control their efforts and their resources, follow determined plans of action, coordinate activities between divisions, and use time management to meet specific goals.
- Planning helps to achieve these goals or targets by efficiently and effectively using available time and resources.
- This is how planning achieves focus.
- Time management underlines the importance of maximizing the use of time to minimize the cost of production.
- If a full-time employee can accomplish their work within 32 hours, the planning process can find meaningful use for their remaining time.
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Defining Strategic Planning
- Strategic planning is concerned with defining company goals and determining the resources needed to achieve them.
- Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy and making decisions on how to allocate resources to pursue that strategy.
- Strategic planning generally deals with at least one of three key questions:
- There are many approaches to strategic planning, but typically one of the following approaches is used.
- Assess the definition of planning in context with strategy and the various planning process approaches
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Fulfilling the Planning Function
- Planning involves the creation and maintenance of a given organizational operation.
- To meet objectives, managers may develop plans, such as a business plan or a marketing plan.
- There are many approaches to strategic planning, but typically one of the following is used:
- Plan – What resources are required to execute the activities?
- Among the most useful tools for strategic planning is a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats).
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Bureaucratic Control
- The quality control cycle improves processes through a continuous cycle of planning, doing, checking, and acting.
- Quality control is used to develop systems that ensure that the goods and services customers receive meet or exceed their expectations.
- PDCA (plan–do–check–act or plan–do–check–adjust) is a four-step management method used in business to control and continuously improve processes and products.
- Do: In this step, a business implements the plan, executes the process, and makes the product.
- It also collects data for charting and analysis to be used in the following "check" and "act" steps.
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Top-Level Management
- Top-level managers work at the top of organizations and guide strategy and planning.
- Rather than direct the day-to-day activities of the firm, they develop goals, strategic plans, and company policies, as well as make decisions about the direction of the business.
- These three managerial skills are used by different managers to various degrees.
- Top management, as noted above, is often functionally centered: each top manager tends to focus on a single area of the organization (excepting the CEO, who views the organization holistically).