Formal Strategic Planning in highly uncertain and dynamic environments

Essay from the year 2014 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: A, Edinburgh Napier University (The Business School), course: Strategic Management in a Global Context, language: English, abstract: This essay will critically evaluate whether formal strategic planning is no longer an applicable approach for corporate decision-making in today's highly uncertain and dynamic business environment. In recent decades company leaders have been quite successful maneuvering their organisations through daily business and a number of economic crises by the means of formal strategic planning. Arguably, it offers several benefits on the one side, but also drawbacks on the other side. The first part of this essay will focus on the nature of formal strategic planning and its key characteristics as well as potential advantages and disadvantages. The second part will then evaluate why the formal planning approach may be perceived as not comprehensive enough in today's highly uncertain and dynamic environment, yet show how it may still be able to make crucial contributions towards sound, efficient and comprehensive corporate decision-making.