Factors That Influence Effective Strategic Planning Process In Organizations

An organization's strategy consists of many factors that form a formula or roadmap to provide guidance concerning the organization's goals,how it will go about attaining these goals and the tactics and policies that are needed to attain those goals(Porter,1980).With the many components of strategy,management' s understanding and use of strategy as a tool to ensure business success has been an important issue for many decades.This is further compounded by the competitive nature of business in the modern world,makes strategic planning an essential process for all organizations.It is through this process that organizations develop sustainable,relevant and valuable vision and mission statements,objectives and core values to reflect their relevance and intent.During the strategic planning process the organization need to critically define their capabilities,resources and match them in order to achieve its set objectives while evaluating the external environment,other key players and their effect on the organization.The general objective of this study was to identify factors that influence effective strategic planning process in organizations.It looks closely at the key factors that influence strategic planning and why organizations have to plan for the future for them to remain relevant in the market.This will be achieved by aligning strategic plan with the vision and mission of the organization.The study explores the connection between strategic plans with organization structure,organizational culture,leadership and human resources.This paper specifically analyses the factors that influence strategic planning and recommendations that can be employed in order to have a successful implementations of strategic planning in the organizations.The recommendations will also address the gaps that have been identified in this paper.