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The set of decisions and actions that result in the formulation and implementation of plans designed to achieve a companys objective.

Strategic management is a field that deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of rms in their external environments.

Management involves managing internal activities and also respond to the challenges posed by the companys immediate and remote external environment.

Immediate external environment - Competitors, suppliers, scarce resources, customers, government.

Remote external environment - Economic & social conditions, political, priorities, technology.

All of the above must be anticipated, monitored, assessed and incorporated in the decision making.

The demands of the internal activities and external environment are subordinated to the multiples requirements of the stakeholders: owners, top managers, employees,

communities, customers and country.

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Mission, purpose and goal formulate. Internal conditions and capability analysis. External environment assessment. Matching resources with external environment. Identifying most desirable . Setting of long term objectives of grand strategic. Developing annual objectives and short term strategic. Implementation of strategic choice. Evaluation of the strategy implemented.

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Strategic issues up management decision. Requires large amount of the firms resources. Often affect the firms long term prosperity. Usually have multi-functional (or) multibusiness consequents. Requires considering the firm external environment.

Phase I: annual budgeting capital needs.(1950)

was used to forecast revenues, cost,

Phase II: forecast based planning trend monitoring, forecasting expected future, defining goods, monitoring effect of action. (1960) Phase III: externally oriented planning scanning the external environment, and forecast- based planning. (1980s) Phase IV: strategic management combining II & III, an integrated model well- defined strategic frame work. (1990s)

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Ethics and social responsibility. Global perspective. Knowledge- based economy ( using IT). Technological changes. Complexity in SM environment - Rapid change, global competition, shortage of resources, demographic mobility, increased expectation.

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Acts as a route map for the firm. Strategy links the firm to the external world. Offers a systematic means of coping with uncertainty and adopting to change.

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Provides more systematic, logical and rational approach. Helps the firm to be more proactive than reactive in shaping its own future.

Minimizes the chances of mistakes and unpleasant surprises.

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Long term direction. Recognizes change. Oriented towards the future. External emphasis technological, political, economic, social. Concerned with scope of the organization. Major impact on the organization success (or) failure. Significant risk. Major financial or other resources implications need investment.

Matching resources with the environment strategic fit, positioning.

Stretching resources and competences leverage to create opportunities.

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Influenced by stakeholders. Affects operational decisions. Competitive advantage aims at achieving above. Integrating intuition (inner voice or a gut feeling) and analysis systematic analysis.

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Reduces uncertainty Link between long and short terms. Facilitates control Facilitates measurements.

Financial benefits:
More profitable and successful. More sales productivity

Non financial benefits:

Awareness of external threats. Improved understanding of competitors strategy. Reduced resistance to change. Clear understanding of performance-reward relationship. Enhanced problem-prevention capabilities of organization. Increased interaction among managers at all divisional and functional levels. Increased order and discipline Encourage forward thinking and critical thinking.

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Formulation of plan is easy but Implementation is difficult. Need good support. Misunderstanding. Need high involvement. High cost & risk. Time. Increased responsibility. Normal duties may be affected.

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Industrial organization (I/O) model. Resource based view (RBV) model.

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Traditional model. Emphasis on external environment than internal environment. Assumes:

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The environment presents threats and opportunities to organizations.

Organizations within an industry have equal access to resources.

These resources are highly mobile between firms.

Argues that firms should choose to locate themselves in industries that present the greatest opportunities and learn to utilize their resources to suit the needs of the environment.

Firm can be most successful by offering goods and services at a lower cost than its competitors or by differentiating it products from those of competitors.

Argues that organizations resource and capabilities rather than environment conditions should be the basis for developing strategic because organizations gain competitive advantage through the acquisition value of their resources.

It assumes that an organization will identify and locate key valuable resources and over time, acquire them. Hence under this model, resources may not be highly mobile across organizations.

Once they are acquired by a particular organization that organization will attempt to retain those resources that are of value.

However resources are only of value to an organization when they are costly to imitate and non-substitutable. Hence RBV model argues that it is the resources and capabilities which will provide distinct capabilities which in turn, help achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

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Formal management education started in India late 1950s IIms started in early 1960s IIms based their teaching methology on the Harvard model of developing and using case studies as the major pedagogical tool.

Almost all the management education institutions offer the strategic management and business policy course, usually in the later part of the degree or diploma programme.

[AICTE prescribed business policy in 1990 and again in 1995].

Association of Indian management schools, included business policy and strategic management as a compulsory course.

The course content of strategic management are drawn mainly from American literature.

Research in India has yet to come up and the cause for lack of research efforts which include non-cooperation from the top management in Indian industry, scarcity of researchers and the requirements of multi disciplinary skills and considerable business knowledge to conduct research in strategic management.

As the interest of foreign investors and producers in Indian corporate sector is growing in recent times and India is an important member of emerging economics and investment destination, this gives rise to an increasing interest of international scholars in India and of Indian scholars reporting results aboard.

On the whole, there are number of desirable change taking place in the Indian context: The availability of literature in sm is increasing. The research study publication and report shows the willingness to put strategic management concept of techniques in practice. The publications related to sm concepts of techniques are given importance by press, business magazines and newspapers.

 The process of liberalization, globalization, and privatization are contributing in a large measure, to the increasing applications of strategic management in Indian organizations.