Strategic Management Paper

With the ever growing business industry, it is extremely important to focus their success on their strategic management processes. This paper will delve into the primary components of that process and discuss the success of one company’s process plan.

Strategic management can be defined as the discipline of formulating, implementing, and evaluating cross-functional decisions that empower an organization to achieve its objectives. Its purpose is to create new and different opportunities for the short term, while long-range planning tries to optimize for the here and now. Next, let us discuss the primary components of a strategic management process. The first is environmental scanning, which is the study of the governmental, financial, social and technological events and trends that influence the business. Strategy formulation is the process of selecting the most appropriate course of action for the recognition of organizational goals and objective. Strategy implementation is the manner that a company needs to develop, utilize, and combine organizational structure to follow strategies that lead to a competitive advantage. Evaluation and control is the final step in the strategic management process. It determines the success of the strategies executed.

Wal-Mart is one of the leading companies in its industry. When it started out in Rogers, Arkansas, its creator, Sam Walton, wanted to create higher sales volumes while keeping the cost lower than its competitors. Mr. Walton opened his first store in 1962 and his assistant, Bob Bogle, came up with the name of Wal-Mart. By 1967, Wal-Mart had grown to 24 stores in Arkansas. Even though Wal-Mart has kept its strategic management plan under lock and key, it is known that they use three generic strategies: Focus Strategy, the Differentiation Strategy, and overall cost leadership. They are continually bringing products to the consumer at a low cost, due to their own brand being marketed, and they have continued