To achieve optimum results business leaders need to focus substantial resources towards developing a long term business strategy. However through a constantly changing business environment, leaders have to continuously review and adapt this strategy to meet new demands and challenges. Regulatory change has a major impact on business, as regulation serves as the convergence touch point between business and government, and this dimension has been identified as the number one contributor to business uncertainty. To meet this challenge business needs foresight and a knowledge of the future in uncertain times best achieved through the undertaking of future studies. There are many methodologies to undertake a future study, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. General morphological analysis was identified as a method which through its specification and design is an ideal candidate through which the complex and uncertain regulatory future could be thoroughly investigated. This studies aims to critically evaluate the robustness and appropriateness of general morphological analysis as an aid in strategic design when dealing with regulation, regulatory change and regulatory uncertain. The methodology was thoroughly evaluated through the undertaking of a general morphological analysis of the airline industry. Through interviews with airline c-suite executives and senior consultants to the industry, dimensions affecting airline future states were identified. Through this process a likely future for the airline industry relating to the regulatory environment was described, specifically highlighting ownership and route access as dimensions of primary impact and uncertainty. This report was presented to the airline executives and consultants who assessed the report to evaluate the methodology. 83% of the executive and consultant feedback found that the report produced using general morphological analysis would be accurate. Further they found that through the process; strong, in-depth and thorough insight was uncovered. Two thirds of the expert respondents stated that they would now consider utilising general morphological analysis in their organisation as a strategy planning tool going forward. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

This research study is focused on the strategic planning process for digital convergence in South African enterprises; it analyses the sophistication of digital convergence plans by interrogating the ‘how’ and ‘what’ of organisation’s planning systems. Three research areas are probed: the planning process, the planning steps and the benefits and barriers of convergence, both anticipated and experienced. The planning process i.e. the ‘how’ is interrogated with respect to the following planning process dimensions: formalisation, consistency, flow, focus, participation and comprehensiveness. The ‘what’ identifies the relevant convergence planning steps, and additionally determines whether specific activities to identify the benefits, barriers and implementation issues related to these convergence initiatives, are included. The study also identifies and compares the benefits and barriers of convergence, both anticipated and experienced. While extensive research has been conducted into the technological aspects of convergence, there is a lack of research into the planning aspects, especially the extent to which organisations are strategically planning for convergence. The results from this study will assist organisations reflect on their planning process and will enable organisations understand weaknesses and strengths within their planning process for convergence. This study also proposes an enhanced model for convergence planning This study is exploratory in nature with the intention to look for patterns and to gain familiarity with the area of strategic planning for convergence. The study is based on a series of semi-structured in-depth interviews with organisations that have implemented, or are in the process of implementing, a converged infrastructure. There are 3 main sections after the introductory chapter. The first section (chapter 2) discusses the concepts that support digital convergence and identifies some of the numerous definitions of convergence that exist in the literature. It expands on the strategic nature of convergence and importantly, presents the contributions and shortcomings of previous research. The next section (chapter’s 3 and 4) justifies the primarily qualitative approach selected for this study and defines the data analysis strategy. The last section (chapter’s 5 and 6) presents the findings from the interviews and presents the concluding remarks.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in the Department of Education Foundations and Management at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2015 / The aim of this study is to investigate the role of strategic planning in the management of schools. Strategic Planning refers to the combined effort of people with interest in education (stakeholders) to develop a common goal for a particular school. Everyone within the boundaries of the school (teachers, learners and parents) then work toward the attainment of such a goal. From the literature study it becomes clear that strategic planning should commence with a study of the environment. “Environment” is an all inclusive word in this context that refers to both internal and external environments. The internal environment includes inherent factors that strengthen or weaken the school’s position. The external environment includes outside opportunities that the school may have as well as the threats that are brought by outside influences, including other schools or the community. The literature survey supplies a vast amount of evidence to support the belief that successful organisations are goal orientated. What all successful schools have in common is a well discussed mission / goal that people in that particular school works towards. A goal orientated school is characterised by parental involvement in matters concerning the school; by learner performance because of set standards; by educator competence because of available resources for effective teaching; and by teamwork, trust and participation in all activities in the school. For the purpose of the empirical investigation, a self-structured questionnaire for educators was utilized. The data obtained from the completed questionnaires was processed and analysed by means of descriptive statistics. The findings from the empirical study confirmed that most schools are still lacking in goal setting and- management expert skills. In conclusion a summary of the study, based on the findings of the literature and empirical studies is presented, with the following recommendations: • Programmes in the form of workshops should be developed to empower parents in their involvement in schools. • Implementation of training and education of the school management teams with regard to the running of the schools. • Further research should to be done to improve planning and management of the schools.

Community colleges spend considerable amount of time and resources on strategic planning. They engage in strategic planning for a variety of reasons ranging from responding to changes in the external environment to increased expectations for accountability from external agencies such as regional accreditation agencies. While there is no shortage of evidence about the involvement of these organizations with strategic planning, very little research exists about the benefits community colleges derive from engaging in strategic planning. This dissertation explores the relationship between strategic planning and perceived institutional benefits in Maryland community colleges. / Ph. D.

This study considered the question: "What is the nature of the nexus between strategic planning and organizational learning, and how does it operate in a specific organization?" A single case study using the narrative inquiry approach was conducted at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters in Washington, DC. The research found a mature strategic planning process at NASA supported by a wide variety of active and ongoing organizational learning activities, of both an explicit and implicit nature. Based solely on the current research, the nexus between strategic planning and organizational learning is defined as a fluid, dynamic interplay and relationship within an organization that at times is an explicit, implicit, and sometimes even accidental process that uses an organization's strategic plan to: develop an informed workforce; store, transfer, and retrieve knowledge and data; create an awareness and understanding of the external environment; initiate behavioral change based on past experience; support a culture of learning; maintain an active communications network; encourage continuous improvement; and involve and inform customers and stakeholders. As a single case study, the research cannot explain all organization behavior and activity as it relates to strategic planning and organizational learning. However the study provided a first look at the nature and composition of the nexus between the two constructs in the context of a government agency. Research similar to the current study is suggested in organizations of various sizes as well as in non-government organizations, such as private industry, academia, and the non-profit sectors. Future research is suggested in areas such as the effect of organizational learning on competitive advantage, which was not addressed in the current study, but is suggested in the literature. Finally, research is suggested in organizations that do not have a strategic planning process that has achieved the level of maturity found at NASA. / Ph. D.

A thesis submitted to the Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg 1991 / The purpose of this thesis were to investigate the effective strategic options aVailable to professional service orgtanizations in the face of the challenging and changing south African environment. Since these organizations are viewed as integrated archetypes of organizational form, strategy and the personal Characteristics, perceptions and values of their top management, they were researched from this perspective. The professions are also viewed as progressing along a continuum of industrialzation, as theoretically defined, and the progress of the organizations along this route was examined to establish their position as a predictor of possible future trends.A model of the effectiveness of professtional service organizations in the face of the environmental challenges is also tested. The research was conducted with the assistance of the partners and clients of 56 prominent organizations from six professions in south Africa, covering three different industrial sectors, the commercial sector, the building and construction sector and the health care sector. Theory indicated certaint possible adaptive options aVailable to organizations in general, but due to the lack of speCific theoretically researched models for professional organizations, an inductive approach was taken to the research problem. In this way, the research findings would dictate the eventual correspondence to the theory. Multiple operationalism was used as a research approach in different stages of the research process, as was triangulation of research methods to arrive at the research results. The findings indicate that there are five groups of professional organizations representing different configurations of adaptation to the South African environmental circumstances. Using the model developed in the research to measure organizational effectiveness, it was found that three of these groups appear to be effective, while the other two are less effective. Some of the attributes of these five groups were contingent on the type of industry and the type of profession. The profiles of the partners provided a particularly fertile area of theory development and a number of propositions were generated which can be tested in future research. It was concluded that an integrated typology Of five groups of strategy, organization and the profile of the top management team did exist and that three of the options proved to be more effective that the other two. Further guidelines for the management of professional organizations, included the examination of the consequences of co-operative strategies, particularly in the light of a possible increase in consolidation within the industries, are given.

Thesis ( MPA.) --University of Limpopo, 2015 / The aim of the study is to evaluate the implementation of the strategic planning and management in Waterberg District municipalities and to identify any constraints that might be affecting the implementation of strategic planning and management which is the basis for poor service delivery, which in turn, causes service delivery protests by members of the public against municipalities, and in order to provide policy recommendations. Therefore, the approach to the research is qualitative because the study solicited for views and opinions of respondents, in this case, public officials, politicians and members of the public. The secondary data aspect included the reviewing of documents of different municipalities in terms of planning and their own management styles. The quantitative approach is also applied in this study to validate the municipal performance score cards which is a content analysis. Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. The findings reflected the key issues with regard to the impact of the implementation of strategic planning and management in municipalities in the Waterberg district Limpopo Province. The study revealed appropriate opportunities for possible interventions to improve the implementation of strategic planning and management. The general conclusion as revealed by the study is that the municipal strategic plans are not successfully implemented and not properly managed. The audit opinions awarded to the municipalities bear reference to the matter. The study provided recommendations for municipalities to improve on the implementation of strategic planning and management. For instance, strategic plans need to be aligned with other municipal plans and the plans of other government spheres, namely, the provincial and national spheres of government; it is imperative that skilled personnel be appointed, the staff and councillors of a municipality must be trained and retained in order to ensure a high level of service provision; municipal capacity building should be a core element of a broader performance management strategy and all stakeholders of the municipalities should be capacitated and trained in terms of policy formulation so that they understand what is expected of them in terms of policy analysis, formulation and policy evaluation

No description available.

This report evaluates the business plan at Eskom's Matla power station by comparing it to grounded theory to establish whether the strategies selected prepare the station to be competitive in a commercialised environment. It is assumed that the key success factors in a commercialised environment would be low cost operation and service delivery to meet customer demands. It is shown that the business plan is deficient in many regards, but the strategies selected are adequate in preparing the station for operation in a commercial environment. A questionnaire is used to determine management buy-in to the strategies selected to gauge support for the strategies. Reasons for strategies not meeting all objectives are also looked at and recommendations are made to improve· the business plan and the implementation of the strategies selected. The question of whether the strategies support corporate strategy is answered by comparing the vision, mission and strategies selected by the station to the vision and mission of Eskom Holdings and Eskom Generation. The findings here were that, although long and awkward, the mission statement supports corporate mission, while the vision contradicts corporate vision. Matla's vision supports growth through diversification while Eskom Holdings and Eskom Generation focus on core business. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

Thesis (M. Sc. (Urb. Plan.))--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.