Since the Taylorist scientific administration and the principles of Fayol, the Business Administration has undergone a radical evolution, thanks to the accumulation of a substantial body of knowledge on strategies, planning systems, organization and control, business environment, culture and corporate values, to name a few.
The market challenge, like any challenge, affects the economic and business world and is perceived by some with hope and enthusiasm, and by others with apprehension and anguish. However, it forces us to become aware of the need to be prepared to successfully face a much more complex and difficult environment.
The business environment has become, for the vast majority of sectors and companies, "turbulent". Internationalization, the globalization of competition and deregulation are aspects of what has come to be called the "Economic War". The strong political changes in the Eastern European countries, the unification of Germany, the disappearance of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, among others, modify the expectations of companies, the technological progress that is ahead of the assimilation capacity, both in terms of the field of knowledge as well as at the organizational and cultural level, of most companies; Society undergoes a profound evolution in its mentalities, values, norms, and lifestyles are transformed, while they play an increasingly important role for companies;the globalization of the economy, besides hardening international competition, provokes and reinforces interdependencies between countries in all fields; political, economic, social, cultural, technological, significantly increasing the level of uncertainty that characterizes all business activity.
The aforementioned constitutes a socioeconomic reality that surrounds companies that offers multiple arguments to talk about the turbulence in the business environment. But in the same way that some entrepreneurs perceive the market as opportunities, and others as a danger (also increasingly imminent), the new competitive conditions, new technologies, the new expectations of people and society imply for companies as many possibilities of creation and expansion as of failure and disappearance. Thus, in recent years, and in the same seemingly unkind environment, numerous business failures and spectacular successes have coexisted, more than ever, and this vital difference is normally attributed to the attitude and the methods on which the action is based. of the direction of these companies.
The turbulent environment itself does not mean the "economic apocalypse", but a new and different situation, although undoubtedly much more difficult. History shows how companies, as open systems that they are, have evolved according to the transformations of their socioeconomic environment. The story continues, and the company must continue to adapt to changes in the environmental suprasystem in order to counteract entropy; and the more unstable and changing the environment, the more vital will be the adaptability of the company and the quality of senior management.
The Strategic Management has been emerging as a valid, necessary alternative to respond to the characteristics of business problems whose complexity must be managed by a system of similar complexity. Strategic Management is not the universal panacea, it is not the miracle recipe that companies and their managers could expect; it is simply a management approach based on the rejection of determinism and doom; who believes in the effort of man and of the company to freely choose its future; which is committed to reflection, knowledge, rigor, while emphasizing openness to change and creativity in order to strengthen the capacity for adaptation and innovation.
The Strategic Management provides a framework for the essential decisions of the company, based on a methodology that invites systematic reflection, and an active and future-oriented attitude. This framework is embodied in a management system in which different elements intervene that develop in harmony with each other, in order to provide the organization with the best possible performance potential.
The company, its environment and its relationships are the object of the Strategic Management, which defines the concept of the company as a technical-economic, social-political system, which in some way supports many of the subsequent developments; as well as the characteristics of the business environment and its evolution.
Strategic Management can be considered as a global decision-making process aimed at ensuring the survival and functioning of the organization, in search of results and satisfactory development. The Strategic Direction is revealed as a management system, in terms of process it covers all its basic functions through two large interrelated phases: the formulation of strategies, and their implementation and control.
The process of formulation and implementation of a strategy begins with the analysis of the business environment, as well as the competitive advantages of the company, to, from there, select the strategy to follow and the ways of developing it. The chosen strategic options must be applied, which means designing the structure and processes responsible for doing so. The human factor is the key input in this phase; Men, probably the most important asset of a company, are in charge of carrying out what has been decided.
