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Industry executives and analysts often mistakenly talk about strategy as if it were a chess game, but in a game there are just two opponents, each with identical resources, and with luck playing a minimal role. But the real world business and competition is different and certainly it is not a chess game – it is more than that. According to Moschella, D (1999), the real world is much more like a poker game, with multiple players trying to make the best of whatever hand fortune has dealt them. This paper explores the value of enhancing typical strategic planning with the critical success factor (CSF) method. It synthesizes documented theory and research in strategic planning, CSFs and proposes an information framework for enhanced strategic planning. The paper does not advocate or articulate a specific strategic planning approach, though theories are discussed and pointers to published methods are provided. Nor does the paper aim to document the CSF as a method; these are published elsewhere. (Caralli, 2004, van der Heijden, 1996)
The Strategic Planning Landscape
Strategic plans outline an organization’s intended approach for achieving its mission. There are many ways to conduct strategic planning, most of which result in a plan or set of plans that articulate organizational goals and a high-level strategy for achieving them. CSFs have extensive histories with operational and strategic planning. The CSF method results in an identified set of organizational critical success factors that represent key performance areas that are essential for the organization to accomplish its mission. Further, scenario planning explores multiple potential futures and generates multiple robust strategies (not complete strategic plans) and a set of early-warning signs that help an organization understand how the future is unfolding. In addition, both CSFs and scenarios provide processes that help an organization establish strong ways of thinking, communicating, and making decisions. Neither method, however, constitutes a strategic planning effort, results in a strategy or strategic plan per se, or has a direct, explicit interface with strategic planning.