What is Strategic Management?

Beyond the Plan: Strategic Management for Growing South African Businesses

Problem

Many founders think once the strategy document is done, the work is over. In reality, that’s when the hard part starts. Without ongoing strategic management, even the best strategic planning effort won’t translate into performance.

So what is strategic management, and how is it different from strategy or planning?

Approach

The research relies on Rumelt, Schendel & Teece and the Strategic Management Society (SMS).

Rumelt et al. describe strategic management as an interdisciplinary field that may never have “normal science” – multiple perspectives and methods will coexist. They frame it around four fundamental questions:

1. How do firms behave?
2. How are firms different?
3. What is the role of headquarters in multinational firms?
4. What determines success or failure in international competition?

The Strategic Management Society brings together academics, practitioners and consultants to:

1. Develop and share insights on the strategic management process.
2. Connect reflective practice with scholarship.

The research is conceptual and field-defining, focused on understanding the nature of the discipline rather than prescribing a single method.

In practice, strategic management is about:

1. How organisations formulate, implement and adjust their strategies over time.
2. How they learn, adapt and govern themselves in complex environments.

Results

From this research, we can distinguish:

1. Strategy: the long-term direction and positioning choices.
2. Strategic planning: the structured process of articulating those choices and plans.
3. Strategic management: the ongoing cycle of:
   1. Making strategic choices.
   2. Implementing them.
   3. Monitoring results.
   4. Learning and adjusting.

It emphasises that:

1. Firms differ in resources, behaviours and governance – which shapes outcomes.
2. There is no single “right” way to manage strategy; context matters.

Lessons for founders

What the research shows

1. Strategic management is broader than a planning exercise; it’s an ongoing management discipline.
2. It involves understanding:
   1. How your firm behaves and adapts.
   2. How you differ from others.
   3. How you govern and coordinate the organisation.
   4. What drives your success or failure in your competitive environment.

What this suggests you might try in your startup

1. Treat strategy as a management rhythm, not an event.
   Build simple cycles:
   1. Annual: big-picture direction.
   2. Quarterly: strategic priorities and experiments.
   3. Monthly: review metrics and learnings.
   4. Weekly: align tasks with strategic goals.
2. Make your differentiation operational.
   Don’t just say you’re “customer-centric”. Embed it in:
   1. Hiring criteria.
   2. Incentives.
   3. Processes (e.g. response times, feedback loops).
3. Create a simple governance structure.
   Even in a small business:
   1. Who makes which decisions?
   2. How are strategic decisions documented and reviewed?
   3. How do you bring new information (e.g. market changes) into the strategy?
4. Focus on learning, not just control.
   Ask regularly:
   1. What did we try?
   2. What did we learn?
   3. What should we stop, start or continue?
5. Connect strategy to front-line reality.
   If you’re managing staff in a store, call centre or delivery operation, ensure they know:
   1. The core strategic priorities.
   2. How their daily work supports these.

This is where strategic planning for entrepreneurs becomes strategic management: your daily, weekly and monthly decisions consistently reflect your chosen business strategy.