The Strategic-Planning Process and Strategic Decision
Making the company continues to exist. In some cases, however, it does get “folded into” the acquiring company and for all intents and purposes disappears. The reasons for selling a company may include an owner wanting to cash out and retire or receiving an offer that is simply too good to pass up. Alternatively, a company might be doing so poorly that the only strategy left is to sell it—but this should be a last resort, as it would get only cents on the dollar in this scenario.
1.7 The Strategic-Planning Process and Strategic Decision Making First and foremost, strategic planning is a process. A company collectively tries to agree on where it is going (its vision) and how it’s going to get there (its strategy). Those are the two principal purposes of strategic planning. Other valid purposes include achieving “success” as the company defines it, such as increasing its shareholder value, market share, or long-term profit- ability. Yet another purpose could be to develop a core competence and sustainable competitive advantage. Consequently, identifying the purpose or purposes to be achieved is an integral part of the process. How and whether those purposes are achieved in reality is the job of the strategy (and management in implementing it). So choosing the right strategy is crucial. This is another answer to the question, “Why have a strategy?” It also answers the question, “Why engage in strategic planning?”