Getting strategic about strategic planning research

Abstract

This introduction to the special issue on strategic planning has four main parts. First comes a discussion of what makes public-sector strategic planning strategic. This discussion is meant to reduce confusion about what strategic planning is and is not. Next, we introduce in detail the five articles in the special issue and note their unique contributions to strategic planning research. Third, we provide a broad assessment of the current state of strategic planning research organized in terms of prominent themes in the literature and our assessment of how the articles address voids related to the themes. The themes are: how should strategic planning be conceptualized and defined? How should it be studied? How does strategic planning work, or not? What are the outcomes of strategic planning? What contributes to strategic planning success? Finally, we offer conclusions and an agenda for future research.

Does Strategic Planning Improve Organizational Performance? A Meta‐Analysis

“…Namely, does SP work equally well in complex systems in which multiple organizations are collaboratively trying to achieve a common goal (e.g., public‐private partnership, community initiatives, etc.)? We follow earlier calls that encourage more theorizing about how SP might be (in)effective in such specific interorganizational contexts and why (Bryson, Edwards, and Van Slyke ).…”

“…It is very much a practice and any one operationalization of SP could be too limited. It is a multidimensional concept in which much variation can be observed and expected to influence OP (Bryson, Edwards, and Van Slyke ; Wolf and Floyd ).…”

“…And goal‐setting theory argues that concrete goals, strategies, and plans should be devised to understand what an organization wants to achieve and how (Locke and Latham ). SP ideally offers an approach to strategy formulation that includes procedures, tools, and practices geared toward incorporating these theoretical arguments during strategy formulation—although it should be noted that much variation exists in how organizations “do” SP (Bryson, Edwards, and Van Slyke ; Ferlie and Ongaro ). The popularity of SP seemingly offers credence to the idea that it contributes to OP.…”

Conceptualizing and measuring strategy implementation: A multidimensional view

“…The dwindling number of strategic planning studies has been noted by several authors (Bryson, Edwards, & Van Slyke, ; Whittingon & Cailluet, ; Wolf & Floyd, ). Although highly reputable peer‐reviewed journals have recently given space for the publication of strategy management and strategy processes (see Burgelman et al, ; Gans & Ryal, ; Kin, Howard, Pahnke, & Boeker, ; O'Regan, Kling, Ghobadian, & Perren, ; Thomas & Ambrosini, ), these papers tend to look more at the strategy formation and strategy development, often on the use of strategy tools and techniques (see Arend, Zhao, Song, & Im, ; Jarzabkowski, Giulietti, Oliveira, & Amoo, ; Tassabehji & Isherwood, ; Vuorinen, Hakala, Kohtamäki, & Uusitalo, ) and with few putting the strategy into action (strategy implementation).…”

Influence of Strategy Implementation on Sustainability of Community Based Tourism in the Coast Region of Kenya

“…By improving own performance, one empowers himself to help others learn and grow. Building performance capabilities should be a central theme in any organization because when people learn and grow, they are empowered to create results that make a difference (Bryson et al, 2018). The balanced score card approach breaks broad goals down into tactical activities and metrics which are easy to follow through and monitor (Jordao & Novas, 2013).…”