To many people, strategic planning is something meant only for big businesses, but it is equally applicable to any type of business entity or organization. Strategic planning is matching the strengths of an organization to available opportunities. To do this effectively, an organization need to collect, screen, and analyze information about its environment. The organization also needs to have a clear understanding of its strengths and weaknesses - and develop a clear mission, goals, and objectives (Wikipedia, n.d.). Acquiring this understanding often involves more work than expected. The organization must realistically assess its current state and device a plan of action to successfully make it better. So how does an organization gauge …show more content…

With goals and objectives clearly defined by both universities, a plan of action must take place. According to McNamara (n.d.), action planning is carefully laying out how the strategic goals will be accomplished. Action planning often includes specifying objectives, or specific results, with each strategic goal. Therefore, reaching a strategic goal typically involves accomplishing a set of objectives along the way -- in that sense, an objective is still a goal, but on a smaller scale. Often, each objective is associated with a tactic, which is one of the methods needed to reach an objective. Therefore, implementing a strategy typically involves implementing a set of tactics along the way -- in that sense, a tactic is still a strategy, but on a smaller scale. He added that action planning also includes specifying responsibilities and timelines with each objective, or who needs to do what and by when. It should also include methods to monitor and evaluate the plan, which includes knowing how the organization will know who has done what and by when. With that said each university’s plan needs to address adapting and evolving with new and emerging technology to stay in accordance with the Baldrige criteria. UC Berkeley acknowledges how new technology will affect their strategic plan with the following statement in their plan, “New and emerging technology solution-building