Contents

What is Strategic Management? ........................................................................................................... 2

The Importance of Strategic Management ........................................................................................... 3
The Challenges of Strategic Management ............................................................................................. 3
The Key Concepts of Strategic Management ........................................................................................ 3
Planning .............................................................................................................................................. 3
Transformation and Reinvention....................................................................................................... 3
Values and Visions.............................................................................................................................. 3
The Strategic Management Process .................................................................................................. 3
The Transformation Management Process of Balfour Beatty .............................................................. 3
Background of Laing O’Rourke

What is Strategic Management?

“Strategy is the great work of the organization. In situations of life or death, it is the Tao of
survival or extinction. Its study cannot be neglected” SUN TZU, THE ART OF WAR

In general companies and organisations are created with an ultimate goal. Some companies or
organizations are formed essentially to make money by selling a product or service such as Microsoft
or Apple, while some companies are charities with an objective of helping people across the globe for
example UNICEF. Achieving success whatever the goal of an organisation is an extremely complex
process that relies on several concepts and factors which include planning, organising, the financial
climate, customers and competitors. As a result, a budding company must make key decision which
consider the mentioned factors as well as others. This process of an organization making key
decisions which an objective of achieving future success falls under the concept of strategic
management.

Strategic management is a broad concept and as a result in the last 30 years there have been several
attempts to provide a definition which captures the essence of its meaning. One way of describing
strategic management is essentially a process which involves making good decisions in the present
which has effective and successful long-term implications. For example, Wheelan and Hunger (2012)
described strategic management as “a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the
longrun performance of a corporation”. Similarly, Miller & Dess (1996) described strategy within the
organisational context as “a set of plans or decisions made in an effort to help organizations achieve
their objectives”. Strategic management may also be examined from the perspective of the need to
consider internal capabilities and external environment. For example, Vasiliauskas, (2004) in
Dzemyda, (2014) describes strategic management as “an ongoing, dynamic and sequential process,
by which an organization adapts in time to the external environment changes and effectively utilizes
its existing potential” while Mintzberg (1979) described strategy within the organisational context as “a
mediating force between the organization and its environment: consistent patterns in streams of
organizational decisions to deal with the environment”.

Overall strategic management may be characterised as having the following qualities:

1. It is an ongoing process
2. Creates an objective and identifies the key decisions required to achieve those objectives
3. Considers the external environment of the organization and utilizes current resources and
capabilities

Strategic management is It includes environmental scanning (both external and internal), strategy formulation
(strategic or long-range planning), strategy implementation, and
evaluation and control. The study of strategic management, therefore, emphasizes the monitoring and evaluating
of external opportunities and threats in light of a corporation’s strengths
and weaknesses. Originally called business policy, strategic management incorporates such
topics as strategic planning, environmental scanning, and industry analysis
it is a unifying theme that gives coherence and direction to the actions and decisions of an individual
or an organization.

“Without a strategy, an organization is like a ship without a rudder, going around in

circles. It’s like a tramp; it has no place to go.”-Joel Ross & Michael Kami (Fred 2011,
35)
From the perspectives of

The Importance of Strategic Management

The Challenges of Strategic Management

The Key Concepts of Strategic Management

Planning
Transformation and Reinvention
Values and Visions
The Strategic Management Process

The Transformation Management Process of Balfour Beatty

References
MILLER, D. and DESS, G. Strategic management. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1996.
ISBN 00-7042-791-7.
MINTZBERG, H. The structuring of organizations. Englewood Cliffs/New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
1979. ISBN 01-3855-270-3.
Dzemyda I, (2014) Strategic Management of Business Organizations