Strategic Planning & Analysis Flashcards

Which analytical tool evaluates a company's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to inform strategic decisions?

Answer: SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis is a foundational strategic planning tool that assesses internal strengths/weaknesses and external opportunities/threats.

A company's mission statement primarily communicates:

Answer: The organization's core purpose and reason for existence

A mission statement defines why the organization exists and what it fundamentally does, guiding all strategic decisions.

In strategic planning, a 'stretch goal' is best described as:

Answer: An ambitious objective that requires significant effort and innovation to reach

Stretch goals are ambitious targets that push organizations beyond incremental improvement, often driving breakthrough innovation.

Which of the following best describes a 'strategic gap'?

Answer: The shortfall between where an organization is and where it wants to be strategically

A strategic gap represents the difference between an organization's current state and its desired future state, driving strategic action.

A company uses a 'Blue Ocean Strategy' when it:

Answer: Creates uncontested market space by making competition irrelevant

Blue Ocean Strategy focuses on creating new market space rather than competing in existing saturated markets.

The primary purpose of a strategic audit is to:

Answer: Systematically review whether the current strategy is working and why

A strategic audit assesses the effectiveness of the current strategy by examining internal capabilities and external alignment.

When using scenario planning, an operations manager is primarily trying to:

Answer: Prepare the organization for multiple possible future states

Scenario planning develops multiple plausible future narratives so organizations can prepare adaptive strategies for various outcomes.