Strategic Management Process

University of Cape Coast

Department of Hospitality & Tourism

ManagementEmmanuel Gamor

• To be successful business in the hospitality and tourism industry, there is the need to take pragmatic step-by-step process to strategically.

• The strategic management process is a series of activities which are interrelated.

• The activities begin with “Development of strategic vision and mission/Strategy formulation”

• In kernel, the strategic plan is a company’s game plan

• A strategic plan is the function of hard managerial choices among many other good alternatives.

• This signals commitment to specific markets, policies, procedures, and operations.

Basic Strategic Management Process

Strategy formulation

Strategy implementation

Strategy evaluation

Thompson et al.’s Strategic Management Process

Phase 1Developing a

strategic vision & mission Phase 2

Setting objectives

Phase 3Crafting strategy

to achieve objective and

vision

Phase 4Implementing the strategy

Phase 5Monitoring and

evaluation.Making

corrections

Revision needed if there is any discrepancy in the objectives and actual performance, conditions/environment, and opportunities

Source: Mensah, 2009; Thompson et al., 2005

Developing vision and mission (Phase 1)

• Vision- this is a statement (motivational) that describes what the organisation seeks to become and where it wants to be in future.

This becomes a roadmap that paints a picture of the route that the organisation wish to chat & where the organisation wants to be.

Developing a vision is undertaken by Top Management.

It answer’s the strategic question: where do we hope to be?

• Mission- this indicates the scope of the business and gives the organisation’s purpose which distinguishes one business from the other similar ones.

• It is the daily activities that the organisation does.

• It is not as futuristic as the vision but rather in the present.

• mission statement answers two questions:- Who are we?- What do we do?/ What is our business?

Examples of Vision & Mission statementsOrganisation Vision Mission

Ghana Tourist Board To see Ghana become the Tourism Capital of West Africa, especially in culture, heritage, ecotourism as well as conference tourism in a quality non-mass manner.

To ensure sustainable tourism development through the creation of an enabling environment for the provision of quality tourism facilities and services for the travelling public with a well-qualified, highly motivated and dedicated & thereby promoting the leading sector of the economy.

Kenya Airways Be the Pride of Africa, by inspiring our people and delighting our guests consistently.

Contributing to the sustainable development of Africa

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts To be the first choice for guests, colleagues, shareholders and business partners.

To delight our guests every time by creating engaging experiences straight from our heart.

Setting ObjectivesObjectives are set so that the progress of the organisation can be quantified and measured against the vision and mission.

• They are the benchmarks for monitoring the progress of the organisation as well as its performance.

S- SpecificM- Measurable A- AgreeableR- RealisticT- Time-bound

There are typically two (2) kinds of objectives in business. Especially in the tourism and hospitality business environment.

• Financial Objective- related to profit, return on investment…….

• Strategic Objective- related to competitiveness and market share

Crafting a strategy• Strategies are crafted to achieve the set objectives

and the vision of the organisation.

• This is the stage where the top management develop or formulate the GAME PLAN for the organisation.

• This is not a one time activity but a process that includes environmental scanning.

• This crafting of a strategy involves the co-operation of al key managers and influential staff members

• There are 4 levels of strategy available to organisations.

These strategies are:

- Corporate strategy

- Business strategy

- Functional strategy

- Operating strategy

Strategy Implementation• This is combining various variables in order to

achieve greater value and the vision of the organisation.

• Here is more of administrative duty.• Action plan is used at this stage.- Capacity and competency building - Developing budget among others- Formulating and enforcing policies, procedures etc

Monitoring development, evaluation, and corrective measures

• Strategic management calls for constant monitoring on the activities and the performance of the business.

• The business environment (internal &external) may change the operations of the tourism and hospitality businesses.

• The objectives of an organisation could be adjusted in a particular year or month to take advantage of an upcoming event.

• Evaluation is done after every strategy has been executed.

• It is done by matching the strategy outcome to the long term and short term objectives to determine if they were met or not.

• If not met then there should be adjustment to bridge the gap

- Changing the objectives- Changing strategy etc….

Next lecture

Levels of strategy in an organisation