SWOT analysis to an organization's strategic planning process:

Theories of Strategic Management In this fast moving world, today's managers are faced with many challenges and opportunities. Therefore, they must do more than set long-term strategies and hope for the best. Managers must go beyond what some have called "incremental management," whereby they view their job as making a series of small, minor changes to improve the efficiency of their firms. The development of the field of strategic management within the last two decades has been dramatic. While its roots have been in a more applied area, often referred to as business policy, the current field of strategic management is strongly theory-based with substantial empirical studies.

Strategic management is a process that evolves managers from all parts of the organization in the formulation and the implementation of strategies and strategic goals.

Required Reading: Please refer to the Activity Resource section of each activity for the required readings and external sources. Assignment 6 Use of a SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis is a widely used tool in strategic management. The SWOT examines an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to evaluate the strategic viability programs and services. Strengths and weaknesses in an organization are internal factors. Opportunities and threats/trends are external factors. Evaluations are often organized in a four-quadrant format so that comparisons and contrasts can be quickly organized and identified. Activity

Resources:

• Kiel, L. D., Watson, D. J. (2009)

• Mehmet, S., Asil, O., Ozgur, U., Gökhan, T., Ali, T., & Dursun, D. (2012)

• Miika, K., Pekka, L., Mikko, K., & Jyrki, K. (2012)

Main Task: Appraise the Use of SWOT Analysis A strategic plan assesses the situation, essentially making sure that everyone is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the organization's performance. The most common way of obtaining this information is by doing a SWOT analysis of the organization. Your assignment is to: Discuss how a SWOT analysis would greatly contribute to an organization's strategic planning process.