INTRODUCTION
In this globalized world in which we develop, business competitiveness rests on the ability of organizations to adapt, anticipate and creatively respond to the changes that occur in their environment. However, the business environment has become increasingly turbulent and dynamic. The globalization of the economy and competition are parts of this daily reality, in turn strong political, environmental, social, technological and cultural changes modify the expectations of companies and sometimes determine their operation.
This country as part of international economic relations does not live unaware of these transformations. The new realities of the world into which the Cuban economy has entered constitute today its external environment, and it will have to operate permanently in the future. This is precisely the environment of the Cuban economy and much of its business sector.
It is a concrete fact in this country that it is no longer possible to run our entities with a short-term vision, capacity is needed to foresee the future, either to adapt and respond to it or to contribute to provoke it, which is the most advisable under certain circumstances and conditions.
It is undeniable that in order to achieve the recovery of the current Cuban company in the national context, on solid foundations that allow for efficiency, effectiveness and sustained competitiveness and for a successful reintegration into the external environment, the economy must be planned and directed strategically.
DEVELOPING:
1.1 Conceptualization of Economic Planning within Strategic Planning.
What is Planning? :
Strategic Planning is a process of systematic evaluation of the nature of a business, defining long-term objectives, identifying quantitative goals and objectives, developing strategies to achieve those objectives and locating resources to carry out those strategies.
It is a powerful tool for diagnosis, analysis, reflection and collective decision-making, regarding the current task and the path that organizations and institutions must follow in the future, to adapt to the changes and demands imposed on them by the environment and achieve maximum efficiency and quality of its services.
Planning as a set of activities:
Planning is understood here as the set of activities in which it is prepared, through reflection and methodical preparation work and decisions are made about alternative solutions to problems that enable, frame and help future decision-making and launching of system activities. to plan (for example: financial planning; production, personnel, cooperation between companies, Administration units, etc.).
Planning must always be understood as the first dimension of an organization and management process that must be accompanied by Controlling - without that rational control of what is prepared and carried out, nor can one speak, in a strict "organizational" sense, of planning.
Planning and decision making:
As an organizational activity, "decision making" is essential in planning.
It is that those responsible with well-defined organizational competencies, when planning, after adequate preparation, make decisions that will be the premise of the execution decisions of the planned.
The term "premise" here indicates that the subject of future decision will have to take into account the decisions of the planner. This can be done, for example, by restricting a consumption of resources (measured as cost) to a budget; or building a room on a terrace whose structure had been designed to support the weight of that future construction.
We must avoid falling into the temptation to confuse "planning" and "determining" (in the sense of that phrase of Franco: I leave everything tied and well tied: that is, you will not even be able to decide to depart from the principles of my regime): without scope of freedom, without room for maneuver for the future "decision", this would not even be possible. Then it will not have been planned, but military orders will have been given (old-fashioned: without decision-making capacity in the subordinate who is considered a mere mechanical piece).
Planning as "problem solving"
Organizing is always a systemic activity that introduces a difference between the organized system and the environment with a differential in the degree of complexity. Complexity manifests itself both in uncertainty about the future, as well as in what affects ill-structured problems. The dimension of organizing in which this treatment of complexity refers to the future is precisely "planning".
In addition, planning, as part of the activity of organizing, implies following the instrumental or teleological rationality (of following objectives -telements-) thus applying appropriate methods to the solution of problems. For this reason, the preparation of the problem-solving process is essential in the preparation of planning decisions (the premise of future ones).
Evolution of planning systems.
About the year 1916 the French industrial engineer H. Farol proposes in his works that planning is to foresee, to calculate the future, to prepare it; to foresee is to act. With the advent of the Great October Socialist Revolution in 1917, its main leader (VI Lenin) manifests himself in this field and introduces perspective planning in the electrification plans of the USSR, that is, he states that Socialism + Electrification = Communism. To ensure this, it is necessary to draw up five-year and annual plans. This is an important contribution of V. I Lenin, since for the first time the need to organize objectives and the process to achieve them was considered.
In the 40s and 50s of the last century, and in particular, after World War II, the following situation exists:
• Economic growth and rapid development of markets (This causes organizations to begin to estimate the evolution of the environment where they have had to act and develop)
• The DPO arises and is consolidated
• The theory and practice of perspective planning is consolidated.
• The correct definition of the objectives becomes a foreseeable course for the future.
Long-term planning appeared in the 1950s and the first half of the 1960s, encompassing all the activities of the company. This has a time horizon of 3 to 5 years. When planning for the long term, companies must consider the environment (market in which the company is present) and its evolution. The essential objective is to do more and better what you already know how to do. The company's production and financing capacity must be in tune with the growth of the market. However, the forecast still constitutes the extrapolation of the past since it includes the estimated trend of demand, prices, etc. In this period there is an acceleration of the pace of technological innovations and intensification of competitive behavior, just as we have the existence of high market demand and competition,which makes strategic choices more difficult: Development of new technologies, new products, penetration of new markets, etc.
All of the above means that Long-Term Planning is broken down into two aspects:
1. Strategic planning, which includes:
• Establishment of major guidelines.
• Modify, improve or accommodate the position of the company against the competition.
• It focuses on areas that compromise the future of the company.
• Manage change.
• Requires the participation of a limited number of managers.
2. Operational planning, which includes:
• Guarantees temporary continuity.
• It affects all those responsible.
Integrated strategic planning also appears at this time, which includes an articulation of the PE and the PO. It includes:
• Diagnosis of the competitive position of the company in the different economic segments.
• Preparation of a strategic plan that determines the place the company wants to occupy in all of these segments.
- Preparation of operational plans (Programming and coordination of actions to carry out the chosen strategy)
• Prepare budgets to implement and control the short-term actions derived from the operational plans.
• Participation of the Strategic Cusp, Middle Managers and Operating Core.
• Appearance of Differentiated Strategic Planning. (Analyzes Strategic Planning and Operational Planning as relatively independent processes from each other.
- Strategic Cusp: Communicates to Middle Managers and Operational Nucleus with the strategic plan (Defines the development strategy to be put into practice and the objectives to be achieved by the different areas).
- Middle Managers and the Operational Nucleus: They must prepare the operational plans.
In the 70s there was a stable development of production, an increase in RCT, high market demand and competition. Therefore, strategic planning faces problems such as:
1. Globalization of markets (Development of commercial exchange and development of investments abroad.)
2. Appearance of oligopolies that cause non-dominant companies to seek international alliances, diversification or public support.
3. Increase in RCT (Technological innovations)
All this increases the risk of operations or strategic choices.
From the 80s to the present day we can say that the theoretical-practical positions move in the following ideas:
• The future cannot be foreseen, it must be invented.
• You can not do more of the same, because those who are at the top and dominate the market prevent it. Therefore, you have to do different things, constantly innovate, make your way while walking.
• You need to develop strategic thinking, strategic attitude and strategic intention.
We can point out the following:
• Strategic management requires a thought, an attitude and an intention of those who practice it.
• Strategic direction represents a mental or intellectual process, rather than procedures or techniques.
• The correct order is to first have a strategic thinking, and then have a methodology.
• Today we must talk more about strategic direction than strategic planning.
• Strategic management gains efficiency by using a methodology appropriate to the characteristics of the organization.
• There is no single methodological tool to carry out strategic planning and direction.
Models and procedures for the strategic direction of organizations.
The need for a model, a methodology to guide the formulation of the business management strategy is evident from the conception of the strategy as a set of goals and lines of action oriented towards the future, as an expression of a desire to the company against the many factors that condition its evolution.
Business strategy is unique for a given company, under certain circumstances. There are no recipes that provide the right strategy for each company, in each different time of its life. Many, and of different kinds, are the factors that influence the selection of a methodology for the development of business strategy:
a) Mission and purpose of the organization.
b) Size of the organization.
c) Management style.
d) Complexity of the environment.
e) Complexity of basic processes.
f) Strategic culture of its main actors.
g) Quality of the information available.
h) Knowledge and experiences of those involved in the process.
When evaluating the models, we realize that some of them have a marketing focus, emphasizing the analysis of the competition, others, however, focus their attention on economic or purely management elements. However, regardless of the differences that may exist between them, conditioned by the specific characteristics where they were applied, we must recognize that there are elements common to all models: the vast majority take into account the mission and vision of the organization and the relationship of this with its environment, as well as the need for strategic objectives and a process of evaluation and control of the strategy outlined.
The concept of strategy.
As there is currently no universally accepted definition of the concept of strategy, the term is used with various meanings by many authors and administrators. Much of the confusion that prevails in this field stems from conflicting uses and poor definitions. Several authors define strategy as a logical set of decisions to take a certain course of action to achieve objectives, others define it as a set of organized actions to guide the institution towards achieving a certain objective, while others define it as a set of objectives and policies of the institution.
According to Mintzberg () the implicit recognition of very varied definitions can help to maneuver this difficult concept. Therefore, below are some definitions and considerations of strategy named by Mintzberg as the 5 "P"
Strategy as a plan: For almost everyone who is asked, strategy is a plan - a kind of consciously determined course of action. A guide to address a specific situation to achieve set goals. Strategy as a plan addresses the fundamental aspect of perception, that is, how intentions are conceived in the human brain and what they actually mean. The strategies have two essential aspects, they are developed before the actions in which they will be applied and are developed consciously and with a specific purpose.
Strategy as a guideline for action: In this case, a maneuver is used to win the game against the opponent or competitor. An organization may threaten to expand the capacity of its plants, to discourage a competitor from building a new plant. Here the real strategy is threat, not expansion. The strategy takes us to the plane of direct competition, where threats, devices and other maneuvers are used to obtain advantages.
Strategy as pattern: It is necessary to define the behavior that we want to occur. According to this definition, for a time Picasso painted in blue, this was a strategy, as it was when Henry Ford offered his model T only in black. Gradually successful approaches become a pattern of behavior that becomes increasingly strategic. For a strategy to be actually deliberate, that is, to have assumed a pattern as it was consciously proposed, it would have to come from the highest command. The precise intentions should have been stated in advance by the organization's managers. As a pattern, the strategy allows leaders to know how to try to establish specific directions for organizations and thus channel them into predetermined courses of action.It also introduces the notion of convergence and the achievement of consistency in the organization's behavior.
Strategy as position: In particular it is a means of locating an organization in what theorists often call "environment or setting." According to this definition, the strategy becomes the mediating force or coupling between the organization and the environment, that is, between the internal and external context.
Strategy as perspective: Its content implies not only the selection of a position, but a way of participating in the perception of the world. There are organizations that favor marketing and build an entire ideology around it, for example Hewlett - Packard has developed the "Model H - P" supported by its engineering culture, while Mc Donald has become famous on the basis of of its emphasis on "Quality, service and cleanliness." In this case, strategy is to the organization what personality is to the individual. As a perspective, the strategy raises questions regarding intentions and behavior in a collective context.
Borges - Andrade stresses that the most important thing is to understand that strategies have their reason for being because there are opportunities to be exploited, threats to be avoided, strengths to be used, weaknesses to be eliminated and gaps to be overcome. Given that there is no known universally accepted definition of the concept of strategy, it is advisable to insist on common characteristics.
What are the main characteristics?
1- Most of the definitions suggest that the strategy allows orienting the decisions that determine the resources and the main actions to achieve the proposed objective and therefore the effectiveness of the organization's operation.
2- The strategy must be understood as an objective phenomenon, the conditions arise whether or not its participants want it, whether or not they are warned of its scope or influence.
3- The strategy has a dynamic character given that what is favorable today may become a threat tomorrow.
4- What drives the strategy are possibilities and potentialities that could pose threats or present opportunities.
The concept of strategic thinking:
Strategic thinking can be defined as the ability of the human being to perceive the influences of the environment in terms of wholes to analyze, understand and act, unlike traditional thinking that only perceives parts of it and in a disjointed and static way.
The concept of strategic thinking oriented to Planning:
The assumption or belief that economies behaved logically and with a certain predictable level leads to conceive strategies as the framework of a puzzle, where the correct answer to the solution of the problem is based on the application of strategic planning tools.
Assuming the tools are used correctly, this style of planning charts a path to achieve future goals and creates certain scales against which results are measured. Organizations that do so produce plans that in practice are nothing more than an enlarged version of quantitative objectives inasmuch as the analyzes seem to produce correct answers, these plans become inflexible and unchangeable, many times no matter what were presenting changes in economic conditions.
The concept of Vision-oriented strategic thinking:
The greater consideration and importance of the human factor as a philosophy based on the values, skills and intuition of the leader or manager, has caused the classic models of strategic planning to be criticized, successful organizations break with the old molds and create a shared vision from the future. Visionary leaders inspire their organizations when they describe what should and could be possible and did not insist on following, only, what the analytical models outlined in detail.
How to formulate a strategy?
Because there is no one-size-fits-all technique for formulating strategies, the most prestigious authors recommend that enough information and creativity be available in the formulation to reduce the level of uncertainty.
Indeed, the success of the strategies is first of all in the clarity and precision of the desired objective, which conditions, among others, the context, the different actors and the critical factors to be considered.
What is the logic that must be followed to develop a strategy?
• Define with clarity and precision the objectives to be achieved….. Look at the internal and external contexts in their different dimensions.
• Look at the different groups of external and internal actors that can influence.
• Evaluate the external and internal factors that are useful to achieve the objective.
• Think about actions in the short, medium and long term. Establish the logical steps of the strategy and its sequence to combine actors, factors and actions.
What is the most used technique to elaborate the strategies?
The SWOT matrix technique, which is popularly used interpreting the different types of strategies in each of the quadrants: First quadrant: opportunities and strengths: offensive strategies. Second quadrant: defensive, adaptive and subsistence.
To carry out the feasibility study and the evaluation of the strategies, it is recommended, among others, to consider the following main elements:
1- Description of strategy: as simple as possible, in terms that allow a clear idea of the actions that arise from it.
2- Objectives: Indicate the objective to which it is directed, as well as the rest of the objectives with which it is related.
3- Related factors: external factors are described in terms of opportunities and threats, as well as internal ones (strengths and weaknesses) that are related to the proposed strategy.
4- Strategic risk orientation: Indicate if the strategic orientation is aimed at the sustainability of the organization. Adaptation to future conditions or organizational changes. You may have one or more orientations simultaneously.
5- Estimated demand for resources: Estimate the demand for financial resources classified in national currency and foreign currency, in three groups: low, medium and high.
6- Expected results: Estimate the contribution to the achievement of the objective and the expected term in three groups: low, medium and high.
In relation to the evaluation of the strategies, the following teachings referred by a prestigious author on the subject can be noted. () The fact that a strategy has worked is not sufficient endorsement to judge any other strategy. Of course, there are other factors, such as luck, abundance of resources, excellent decisions, mistakes of the enemy, etc. that contribute to the bottom line. Even when each strategic situation is unique, there are some common basic criteria that tend to define what a good strategy is, these are the following:
Clear and decisive objectives: Are all efforts directed towards clearly understood general goals that are decisive and achievable? The goals or objectives of the subordinate units may have their specificity. Not all goals can be specified numerically, but they can be verified, well understood and decisive
Remain initiative: Does the strategy preserve your freedom of action and stimulate commitment? Does it set the pace and determine the course of events rather than react to them? A prolonged reactive position breeds tiredness, lowers morale, gives the advantage of time and increases costs and lowers the probability of success.
Concentration: Does the strategy concentrate power in the right place and at the decisive moment? Do you define precisely the strategy that empowers the organization to be more powerful?
Flexibility: Does the strategy support the resource reserves and the dimensions necessary for flexibility and maneuverability? The reinforcement of skills, a raised scope of action and the renewed location allow to keep the opponents, with a minimum of resources, at a relative disadvantage.
Coordinated and committed leadership: Does the strategy engender responsible and committed leadership for each of its main goals? Leaders must be selected and motivated in such a way that their own interests and values coincide with the needs of the role assigned to them. Successful strategy requires commitment, not just acceptance.
Surprise: Have you used in or during the preparation of the speed, silence and intelligence strategy to attack, at unexpected moments, unsuspecting and helpless opponents? Along with the correct synchronization, the company can achieve success out of all proportion, in terms of the energy used and can decisively change strategic positions.
Security: Does the strategy ensure the resource base and other fundamental operational aspects for the organization? Do you develop an effective intelligence system sufficient to prevent surprises from your opponents? Do you develop the essential logistics to support each of your principals?
Concepts and fundamental elements on Strategy.
The organizations, whose performance is based on the performance of their personnel, and which have their external agents with whom they have relationships? From the above it can be deduced that the performance of the organization's staff and external agents is based on the strategy given by the organization's management and the motivation that both have.
• That there is an adequate strategy to be more competitive.
• That said strategy is clear and understandable, so that the staff can carry it out.
• That there is sufficient motivation in the staff, so that the strategy is executed.
• That there is a clear identification of the agents external to the organization.
• That there is motivation, so that external agents act according to the strategy.
Evolution of the concept: "Strategy."
In international literature, a group of concepts is used, which we will analyze below:
• Definition of company objectives and lines of action to achieve them, what the company wants to do in the future. Action thought in terms of objectives and means to achieve them at a given time. (Chandler Andrews, 1962).
• It is the dialectic of the company with its environment. (Ansoff, I. 1976).
• It is the formula for success, the plan to get the best results from resources, the selection of the type of business to engage in, the plan to achieve a favorable position in the business field, it is the adoption of measures to face a The changing external world is to understand the peculiar characteristics of an industry and the program to make them strong. (Theodore A. Smith, 1979).
• It is the set of missions and main objectives or goals, as well as policies and essential plans to achieve these goals, presented in the form of definition of activities to which the company is or is going to dedicate itself. (KR Andrews, 1980).
• The business strategy makes explicit the general objectives of the company and the fundamental courses of action, in accordance with the current and potential means of the company, in order to achieve its optimal insertion in the socio-economic environment. (Menguzzato, M and J. Renau, 1984).
• Set of decisions that determine the coherence of the company's initiatives and reactions to its environment. (Tabatoni and Jorniou, 1985).
• Strategic management is the process through which an organization formulates objectives, and is aimed at obtaining them. Strategy is the means, the way, to obtain the objectives of the organization. It is the art of mixing internal analysis and the wisdom used by leaders to create values, resources and skills that they control. There are two keys to designing the strategy: doing it well and choosing the competitors that I can defeat. Analysis and action are integrated into the strategic direction. (Hatten.KJ, 1987.)
• It is the program to define and achieve the objectives of the organization and put its mission into practice. It is the organization's response pattern to its environment over time. (Stoner, 1989).
• They are general programs of action and deployments of resources to achieve complete objectives of an organization and its changes, they are policies that govern the determination of basic long-term objectives of a company and the adoption of courses of action and allocation of the necessary resources to achieve these goals. (Henil Weihrich, 1990).
• The formulation of a competitive strategy consists of relating a company with its environment and includes defensible action against the five competitive forces in the industrial sector in which it is present and thus obtaining a superior return on the company's investment. (Michael E. Porter).
• It is a decision model that reveals the actions, objectives or goals of the company, the essential policies and plans to achieve them, in such a way that it defines its competitive position in response to: What kind of business is the company in, or in what business requires being, what kind of organization do you want to be. (Francisco J. Manso, 1991).
• Strategy is the set of criteria, decisions and actions that guide the activities and configure the company, assigning resources. (Javier Cantera, 1994).
It is the program to define and achieve the objectives of the organization and put its mission into practice. It is the organization's response pattern to its environment over time. (J.Stoner, 1997).
• It is any specific action developed to achieve a proposed objective. (Santesmases, 1999).
• Indicates the way to move from reality to what we want to achieve, it can be considered an action guide to concentrate and allocate resources and wills. (Seminar - Workshop on Strategic Planning).
The in-depth analysis of the bibliography consulted and of each of the above concepts, allows us to highlight and specify the following. Definitions and concepts have many common elements. All in one way or another refer to the strategy being:
• A consistent pattern.
• A group of decisions that are integrated directed to a goal.
• A map that everyone should know and in which everyone can make a contribution.
• A description of the company's business going forward.
• A current management requirement.
• A motivation to achieve something.
• A way to prioritize and allocate resources.
• A response to external opportunities and threats.
• A way to express the culture of the organization.
• A way to turn weaknesses into internal strengths.
• A smart way to apply proactive steering, more advantageous than reactive.
• The organization's ability to respond with anticipation to changes that occur in its environment. A capacity for response is recognized and not only for adaptation.
In a significant group of definitions where the terms appear: objectives, policies, procedures, rules, programs. It is logical that it should be so, since if the strategy establishes the general goal and the ways in which organizations behave, based on certain strategic objectives; Policies, procedures, rules, and programs provide the details to incorporate strategic plans into the daily operations of the organization.
Policies are general guidelines for decision making. They establish the limits of decisions, specify those that can be made and exclude those that are not allowed. In this way they channel the thinking of the members of the organization so that it is compatible with its objectives. (Stoner, 1997).
The procedures constitute the detailed parameters for the management of organizational actions that occur regularly. Policies are carried out through procedures. (Stoner, 1997).
The rules establish that a specific action should or should not be carried out in a certain situation. The rules set out in detail specific actions to be taken in certain situations. (Stoner, 1997).
The programs cover a relatively broad group of operational activities, and specify stages of importance, their order and chronology, and the unit that will be responsible for each stage. A program shows: 1) the main steps required to achieve a goal, 2) the unit or member of the organization responsible for each step, and 3) the order and timing of each step. (Stoner, 1997).
Relationship of the strategy with elements of the management process.
Business strategy - Management objectives.
There is no universally accepted definition of objectives among authors. In its broad meaning, an objective is described as a state, situation or future result to be achieved.
What we present below are some concepts of objectives that appear in the literature consulted:
• They are a description of the results that must be achieved. (Morrisey, 1979).
• They are the ends towards which the activities of any company, department or project are directed, and if these have any practical importance for the organization, they must be verifiable. An objective is verifiable if, at some predetermined date in the future, you can look back and say with certainty “if it was achieved” or “it was not achieved”. (Koontz, 1990).
• The objectives are the raison d'être of any artificial system, with the additional characteristic that the system itself is capable of forming new objectives or modifying the previous products of social practice. (Carnota, 1990).
The objectives can be classified in several ways:
• Because of its content: Political, economic, technological, ideological, etc.
• By its level: National, provincial, municipal, etc.
• By time: Long, medium and short term.
However, perhaps the most useful classification during its formulation is that related to its precision: trajectory objectives, normative objectives and task objectives. Path objectives indicate continuity and are generally qualitative expressions. They are used to formulate global strategies. Normative objectives express a desired state, generally derived from a trajectory objective and therefore accompanied by quantitative or qualitative expressions. The task objectives generally set the specific standard by which the operational actions of the organization will be guided, therefore they must be characterized by their precision. They express in quantity, quality and time what you want to achieve.
From the hierarchical point of view, the first level of objective is defined by the organization's mission as the most general expression of its reason for being in terms of its social role. The second level of the objectives of an organization are the general objectives, which express the purposes or goals on a global scale, and in the long term, depending on its mission, but also depending on the situation of its environment and especially its future evolution, especially the opportunities and threats it presents, as well as the organization's own internal situation. The third level corresponds to the objectives that the decision levels are set in the different units of the organization, often called functional objectives, which result from the derivation of the general or second level,in all cases they constitute a reference for the objectives of the immediately lower level.
In the process of formulating the objectives, they must meet the following requirements:
Relevant: That they are based on the purpose of the system and support its materialization, as well as the policies, directives and strategies that emanate from that of senior management.
Measurable: Whenever possible, the objective should be expressed in quantitative terms, for example, "increase productivity by 2%…", "reduce transportation costs by 20% compared to the previous year"; etc.
However, it is not always possible to quantify the objectives that are to be achieved and, in these circumstances, it would be necessary to express clearly the qualitative parameters that will serve as a basis for management to control its process and corresponding impact.
Feasible: Not everything that is needed can be accomplished in a given period or place. The appropriate balance between need and possibility, as well as between available tasks and resources, constitutes a very useful tool for management, which cannot and should not be ignored. The correct evaluation of the needs and the real possibilities of satisfying them is one of the first steps in the strategy of a planning process with a realistic vision.
Acceptable: The objectives must satisfy the expectations and values of all those who, directly and often indirectly, are interested in the materialization of the results they are intended to achieve. First of all, the objectives must be accepted by the objectives of its execution. At the same time, management at its different levels must give its necessary approval and support. Last but not least, it is the acceptance of the objective by the beneficiaries of its fulfillment.
Flexible: The objectives are not a straitjacket because this would deny the dynamic development of organizational systems and their need to adapt to the changing conditions imposed by the environment in which they develop. Of course, flexibility should not become unlimited tolerance for changing goals and objectives. Each modification must be fully justified and follow a procedure similar to that established for the formulation of the initially approved objectives.
Motivators: Collective participation in the identification of problems and in the formulation of objectives to give it the proper solution is, in itself, a motivational factor of great importance for the social actors involved in this process, even more so if they are the that they must materialize the results they hope to achieve
When the person responsible for carrying out the task participates in the conception of his need, it makes him feel more useful and satisfied with the work he is doing. But this alone is not enough, it is necessary for the individual to come to the conviction that by fulfilling the institutional objectives she realizes part of her aspirations as a person.
Understandable: Its formulation must be easily understood by all those who are linked to its conception and execution. To this end, they must be drafted in a clear and simple way in order to avoid misinterpretations that make compliance difficult.
Committing: The objective must be identified with a certain area of responsibility and even with the individuals themselves who must execute the necessary actions for its realization. Each objective, once approved, is mandatory and serves as the basis for evaluating its executors, in terms of results.
Business Strategy - Organizational Structure.
The success of the implementation of the strategy depends, in part, on how the activities of the organization are divided, organized and coordinated, that is, on the structure of the organization. The chances of success of a strategy are much greater when its structure matches its strategy.
Álvaro Cuervo, in his article: "Bases for the organizational design of the company", states:… "The structure is the most stable system of relations between the members of the organization, it determines the activities to be carried out by each individual and organizational unit, as well as the relationships that they must maintain between them and, therefore, configure the framework for the development of decision-making. The organizational structure, as an integrating element of the individual and collective elements for achieving the objectives of the strategy, seems to be a determining element of business success or failure. (Álvaro Cuervo, 1989).
The structure can be defined as “the set of functions and relationships that formally determine the missions that each unit of the organization must fulfill and the modes of collaboration between these units. (Strategor, 1988). Or also as "the set of all the ways in which work is divided into different tasks, then achieving their coordination". (Mintzberg, 1984).
From the works of (Chandler, 1962), the strategic interactions and structures have been the object of great attention, both in the theoretical and empirical fields. Almost all the authors reach a series of conclusions, the essential of which is that: "Structure follows strategy".
Peter F. Drucker, in his article: “A new organization is coming to the company”, points out that “… regarding its structure, its problems and management issues, the company, in the coming years, will look very little like the typical one company that we have known today, and that are still considered standards in our texts… ”
It will be an information-based organization. Its structure will be a key area that will be affected when a company changes its potential, from data processing, to an information production strategy.
Information-based organizations require common goals, clear and simple, that translate into concrete actions. They will have to be able to quickly and timely capture all the information generated by their environment and put all the knowledge of their staff in order to process that information and reach a learning process that allows them to advance in this changing environment. The current structures are not designed to play this role. A change in structure is rapidly demanded. One of the basic challenges facing management in this new business structure is to provide an overview, and share it with the vast majority of its members.
CONCLUSIONS
- We have come to the conclusion that strategic planning cannot be seen without seeing economic planning, since there is no divorce between them as a result of the need that today's institutions have to work with these concepts and put them into practice.
- We also conclude that planning is understood here as the set of activities in which it is prepared, through reflection and methodical preparation work and decisions are made on alternative problem solving that enable, frame and help future decision-making.
- The business strategy is unique for a given company, under certain circumstances. There are no recipes that provide the right strategy for each company, but with a broad vision, the right alternative must be found.
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