Developing and Managing a Strategic Marketing Plan Scenario

Developing and Managing a Strategic Marketing Plan Scenario

Strategic plans at higher organizational levels provide direction for strategic plans at lower levels. Lower-level plans are developed to execute higher level plans. Because of this relationship, strategic planning must be consistent throughout levels.The major benefits of strategic planning are improved performance relative to objectives and a better organizational focus and vision. Most of the firms prepare formal strategic plans at the corporate, business, and product levels, with different functional managers participating in the planning process. These include sales managers, product managers, marketing researchers, production managers, and financial managers. Many firms also incorporate customers into the process. A corporate strategic plan provides guidance for strategic planning at all other organizational levels. Important corporate strategy decisions concern development of a corporate vision, formulation of corporate objectives, allocation of resources, determination of how to achieve desired growth, and establishment of business units. These decisions determine what type of company the firm is and wants to become.A business strategic plan indicates how each business unit in the corporate family expects to compete effectively in the marketplace, given the vision, objectives, and growth strategies in the corporate strategic plan. Different businesses within the same organization are likely to have different objectives and business strategies.