Small businesses in the United States employ 98% of workers, yet approximately 47% of small businesses shut down in less than five years. Business leaders who fail to implement adequate strategic strategies experience reduced profits and sustainability challenges. These business closures cause unemployment rates to rise and inflict damages to the economic growth of economies in the United States. This multiple case study was grounded in the theory of transformational leadership. The purpose was to explore strategies used by small financial business owners to sustain their businesses beyond five years. The population consisted of 8small financial businesses in Southwest Florida; these businesses all have been in operation beyond 5years. Using methodological triangulation, data were collected from interviews with the leaders, company documents, physical artifacts such as the company websites and social media pages, to assess culture similarities and differences. Thematic analysis involved developing codes and themes from data collected and member checking. Four themes emerged transformational leadership, establishing trust, maintaining adequate capital, and proficient time management. These themes applied by business owners may help business owners experience greater success in remaining sustainable. The findings of this study could contribute to positive social change by providing insights for small financial business owners on the strategic implementations for business longevity that would possibly increase workplace stability for employees supporting their families as well as contributing positively to their communities in Southwest Florida

Strategic Planning is a function practiced by most public and private sector organizations. Most managers are familiar with the concept of strategic planning and associated processes. There has been some research in the field of management focusing on the alternatives to strategic planning approach. "Management by groping along" is one such approach. The "Management by groping along" strategy attempts to make an organization capable of adapting, responding and, allocating resources and focusing energies. The purpose of this research was to empirically test the existence and viability of an alternative planning strategy and to provide experimental results. Some of the outputs of this research are: a set of indicators for the strategy "management by groping along" and an analysis of the performance difference between "management by groping along" and strategic planning approaches. / Master of Science

The VPC's Planning Methodology (Strategic Performance Improvement Planning Process) has been primarily based on action research. This thesis attempts to externally validate the methodology by asking "has the methodology evolved consistently with the findings of others?" This was accomplished by comparing the methodology to other recent strategic planning/management methodologies and having planning practitioners and consultants compare the VPC's Methodology to their own methodologies. A second objective was to identify potential improvements to the methodology. In most cases, the VPC's Methodology was more comprehensive than the methodologies found in the literature. The only potential shortcoming of the methodology was the lack of an explicit component for a coordinated strategy, although the methodology includes a vision of the future and strategic objectives components. The planning practitioners and consultants offered several minor suggestions for improving the methodology, but none found any significant shortcomings in the methodology. Interestingly, none of the practitioners/consultants mentioned the lack of a strategy component; however, at least two of them felt a better link was needed between strategic and tactical objectives. This leads me to believe the VPC's Methodology has evolved consistently with the findings of others. Some of the potential improvements identified include: a relocation of planning assumptions within the process model, a revised technique for analyzing planning assumptions, the addition of a strategy component, clarification of the role of Key Performance Indicators, clarification and emphasis on under-utilized components of the methodology, and revisions to the process model. / Master of Science

Many American organizations have reported dissatisfaction with the results of their strategic planning, TQM, or other large-scale change efforts. Some have even abandoned their efforts all together. According to the literature, the major problem seems to be with implementation and deployment. One of the major obstacles that organizations face in the implementation and deployment phase of their planning effort is the loss of momentum. They seem to get the ball rolling and generate a lot of initial excitement but then after some period of time, the energy level begins to decline. All of the work: that was put in at the beginning seems to get cast aside in order to "get the job done" or to ''fight fires." In an effort to provide American organizations with some recommendations for successful implementation and deployment, this research addressed two questions: (1) What are the "root causes" leading to an organization's strategic planning effort to lose momentum during implementation and deployment, and (2) Does it appear that ''Hoshin'' organizations struggle with these root causes to a lesser degree than "Non-Hoshin" organizations? / Master of Science

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / The United States Navy Submarine Hydrodynamic/Hydroacoustic community is a decentralized, multiorganizational, geographically distributed enterprise. Strategic planning and management, whether formal or ad hoc, is necessary for effective functioning of any organization. However, formal strategic planning is particularly difficult in multi-organizational, geographically diverse enterprises. Enterprise-wide performance measurement and a shared understanding of enterprise performance is necessary to devise compelling and effective strategies. During the Cold War, the U.S. Navy submarine force had a clear mission and compelling goals, with resulting clarity on performance metrics. The Submarine Hydrodynamic/Hydroacoustic workforce was focused on helping the submarine force achieve these goals. In the post-Cold War era, the submarine force mission in the integrated battle space is less defined. The percentage of the military budget that can be spent on discretionary spending is decreasing. The Submarine Hydrodynamics/Hydroacoustic community has been directly impacted by the recent lack of focus and budget reductions. The purpose of this thesis is to research the past processes used to perform strategic planning for the Submarine Hydrodynamic/Hydroacoustic community, identify current strategic issues for the community, and document strategic lessons learned that can be identified through the evaluation of product successes and failures. / Civilian, United States Navy

Organizations that must respond quickly to environmental pressures look for tools to assist in that response. Information technology may be one tool to facilitate the response. In this study the possible effects of using information technology, specifically a decision support system, in the feedback segment of one organization's strategic management loop were examined. The organization was one region of the Board of Probation and Parole in a central state. Personnel included administrators, parole officers and clerical workers. The information technology was an off-the-shelf software product called PlanRight. This study is significant for two reasons: a new application for information technology was examined and the adequacy of a generic computerized tool designed to be suitable for various operations was explored. This study was a case study. Two months of data were taken prior to the implementation of the decision support system, and four months of data were taken after the system was implemented. Questionnaire data taken before system implementation provided descriptive characteristics of the organization. Follow-up surveys and interviews at the conclusion of the study were used to evaluate employee perceptions. The study was done in three phases. During phase one questionnaires were distributed and returned. During phase two, goals, plans and evaluation criteria were formulated and plans were implemented. Feedback was obtained and evaluated through the use of the decision support system enabling reaction to the feedback data. In phase three perceptions of administrators and parole officers were elicited using follow-up surveys and semi-structured interviews. Three propositions guided the evaluation of the study's outcomes. These propositions dealt with performance toward goal achievement, satisfaction with feedback processes and quality of plans formulated for the project. Performance was moderately successful. Satisfaction with processes was high. Speed of obtaining feedback was considered high by administrators and paroled officers. Quality of processes and outcomes was evaluated to be good.

The extent of the application of the strategic planning process on dental education institutions was the problem in this descriptive study. The specific purpose was to describe the status of strategic planning based on the perceptions of the respondents. The organization, the characteristics and the impact of the strategic planning process would be investigated and described by this research. The total population of the doctoral and post-doctoral dental education institutions were included in the study. A specifically developed research instrument was used to elicit the perceptions of the respondents, both experts and chief executive officers (deans). All the experts (100 percent) completed and validated the research instrument and 65 percent of the dental education institutions completed the research instrument. The research instrument evaluated three areas of strategic planning: organization, characteristics, and the impact of strategic planning on their institutions. It was concluded that all dental education institutions participate in the strategic planning process and that the organization in the strategic planning process and that the organization and characteristics are generally similar to those in higher education institutions. The application of the strategic planning process has been proven beneficial in higher education institutions and there are perceived benefits in dental education. The study also concluded that there were conflicting perceptions that showed differences between dental and higher education institutions. These differences demonstrated that the dental education^institutions were not using the strategic planning process at the same functioning level as higher education institutions.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo geral responder ao seguinte problema de pesquisa: Como o processo de planejamento estratégico ocorre nos municípios brasileiros? Seus objetivos específicos incluem conhecer a evolução dos conceitos gerais do estudo a partir da realização de um estudo bibliométrico, analisar como o processo de planejamento estratégico proposto por Poister e Streib dialoga com a realidade brasileira, identificar as particularidades das práticas de planejamento estratégico adotadas nos municípios estudados e compreender como elas afetam o seu planejamento. Dessa forma, o estudo incluiu uma investigação bibliométrica com o intuito de identificar como o planejamento estratégico no setor público tem sido abordado no âmbito acadêmico e um estudo de caso de dois municípios brasileiros: Porto Alegre, capital do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, e Sorocaba, cidade de grande porte do Estado de São Paulo. Apresentados os dados coletados a partir de entrevistas, visitas a sites, leitura de documentos e interpretação de legislações diversas, foi realizada uma análise qualitativa buscando responder aos objetivos da pesquisa. Tal análise foi feita de forma comparativa entre os dois municípios e também à luz do referencial teórico apresentado ao longo da pesquisa. Após a apresentação e a análise dos casos, verificou-se que a pesquisa conseguiu responder ao problema proposto de entender como o processo de planejamento estratégico ocorre nos municípios brasileiros. Ao analisar as práticas de planejamento estratégico adotadas nos municípios estudados, pudemos compreender como certas particularidades afetam o planejamento estratégico e determinam seu foco. Com a análise feita, a percepção, por parte da autora da pesquisa, é que o papel das lideranças (prefeitos, vice-prefeitos e secretários) é um dos principais fatores para o sucesso de um planejamento estratégico, bem como dos funcionários de níveis hierárquicos inferiores. Ao comparar o referencial teórico com os casos analisados, foi possível afirmar que os processos de planejamento estratégico dos municípios analisados, mesmo quando não atendem a todos os requisitos, se preocupam ou se preocuparam com todos os itens das variáveis propostas pelos autores supracitados. / The present work had as its main goal responding to the following research problem: How does the process of strategic planning happen in Brazilian municipalities? Its specific goals include knowing the evolution of the study\'s general concepts by carrying out a bibliometric study, analyzing how the process of strategic planning proposed by Poister and Streib converses with the Brazilian reality, identifying the particular features of the strategic planning practices adopted in the municipalities studied and understanding how they affect their planning. The study hence includes a bibliometric investigation with a view to identifying how strategic planning in the public segment has been approached in the academic environment and a case study concerning two Brazilian municipalities: Porto Alegre, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and Sorocaba, a large city in the state of São Paulo. After presenting the data collected from interviews, visits to websites, reading of documents and interpretation of various laws, a qualitative analysis was performed, in order to answer this research\'s goals. This analysis was carried out comparing the two municipalities, in the light of the theoretical background presented throughout. After the presentation and analysis of the cases, it was verified that this research managed to respond to the problem proposed, i.e. understanding how the process of strategic planning takes place in Brazilian municipalities. When analyzing strategic planning practices adopted in the municipalities studied, it was possible to understand how certain particularities affect strategic planning and determine its focus. When the analysis was concluded, the perception of the author is that the role of leaderships (mayors, vice-mayors and secretaries) is one of the main factors for the success of strategic planning, as well as that of employees in lower hierarchical levels. Comparing the theoretical background with the cases analyzed made it possible to affirm that the processes of strategic planning in the municipalities studied, even when they did not meet all criteria, are (or were) concerned with all the items of the variables proposed by the aforementioned authors.

by Mok Wai Chung, David and Dai Yat Hang, Alice. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Bibliography: leaf 66. / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS --- p.iv / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.v / Chapter / Chapter I. --- "THE COMPANY, ITS PRODUCTS AND ITS COMPETITORS" --- p.1 / Company Profile --- p.1 / Corporate Culture and Company Philosophy --- p.2 / Organization Structure --- p.3 / Property Development vs Property Investment --- p.4 / Process of Property Development --- p.5 / Classification of Competitors --- p.8 / Strengths and Weaknesses of Cheung Kong --- p.10 / Chapter II. --- MARKET PROFILE --- p.12 / The Building Industry Development --- p.12 / Building Types --- p.13 / Profit Contribution --- p.15 / Market Structure Characteristics --- p.17 / Competitive Strategy of Rival Firms --- p.19 / Chapter III. --- IDENTIFICATION OF THE UNSERVED MARKET NICHE --- p.20 / Public Housing Scenerio --- p.20 / Rental --- p.21 / HOS/PSPS --- p.22 / Supply and Demand of Public Housing --- p.23 / The Cost-Focus Approach --- p.24 / Consumer Profile --- p.25 / Objective --- p.25 / Sampling Method --- p.25 / Observation --- p.26 / Chapter IV. --- COST-FOCUS STRATEGY --- p.27 / Cost and Price Analysis --- p.27 / Acquisition of Land --- p.29 / Chapter V. --- MARKETING STRATEGY --- p.30 / Product Strategy --- p.30 / Product Differentiation --- p.30 / Quality --- p.31 / Management --- p.32 / Maintenance --- p.32 / Pricing Strategy --- p.33 / Markup Pricing --- p.33 / Reduction in Construction Cost --- p.33 / Incremental Pricing Strategy --- p.35 / Distribution Strategy --- p.35 / Improvement in Existing Distribution Channels --- p.36 / Creation of District Sales Office --- p.36 / Promotion Strategy --- p.37 / Chapter VI. --- CONCLUSION --- p.39 / APPENDIX --- p.41 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.66

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T19:15:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 15 / Nenhuma / A proposição de um modelo de planejamento estratégico assume diversas formas em sua concepção, implantação, execução e controle. Esta diversidade de métodos tem origem em fatores que influenciam nos ambientes interno e externo das organizações. Foi com base nesta assertiva que esta pesquisa buscou identificar características intrínsecas às atividades estratégicas desenvolvidas em três setores da economia: alimentos, químico e petroquímico e metalúrgico e siderúrgico aproximando-os dos modelos, ao qual se denominam escolas do pensamento estratégico. Essa verificação ocorreu por meio de pesquisa de campo realizada com o uso de questionários, respondidos por executivos de 68 empresas constantes da revista valor 1000, edição 2008, sendo 23 do setor de alimentos, 21 do setor químico e petroquímico e 24 do setor metalúrgico e siderúrgico, cujos dados foram analisados com a utilização de estatística descritiva possibilitando a conclusão de que estes setores, apesar de possuírem atributos semelhantes, utilizam metodo / The proposition of a strategic planning stream assumes many forms on its conception, implantation, execution and control. This method diversity derives from factors that influence internal and external company environment. Based on this statement, the research intended to identify core features of the strategies developed in three economic segments: food; chemical and petrochemical; and metallurgical. These industries’ strategies were approached to the streams here named “strategic planning schools”. The verification was conducted through field research, with survey, and executives from 68 companies participated. The companies were selected among a list of Valor 100 magazine (2008 edition), being 23 from food industry; 21 from chemical and petrochemical industry; and 24 from the metallurgical industry. Collected data were analised through descriptive statistics, which leaded to the conclusion that these industries, although having many areas of convergence, use different methods to manage their strategies. Th