STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS: UCLA MEDICAL CENTER

Formal strategic planning (FSP) is defined as "the process of determining the mission, major objectives, strategies, and policies that govern the acquisition and allocation of resources to achieve organizational aims" (Pearce, Freeman, & Robinson, 1987, p. 658). Strategic planning is a process that generates specific actions which are required to carry out a particular strategy.

By definition, thus, the strategic planning process begins subsequent to the adoption of a strategy. The entire strategic process within an organization, however, is a set of highly interrelated components that function within a dynamic environment. Thus, in the so-called real world, strategic planning will often precede strategy development, because of the cyclical character of the strategic process.

This research considers the strategic planning process at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center. The organizational demographics of the institution are presented in the following section.

The UCLA Medical Center is a large and complex institution (Page, 1994, pp. 7-8). The Medical Center is comprised of several hospitals, clinics, and other health service organizations, and operates in association and conjunction with several health sciences schools and other health sciences institutions. The institution is publicly funded, and thus is subject to the severe budget constrain

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nter is affected California state governmental purchasing policies, and federal and state subsidy funding for specified selected activities. The principal market and competitive factors affecting the strategic planning process at the UCLA Medical Center are the population demographics of Los Angeles County, and strategic changes by competing health services organizations in Los Angeles County. The relevant supplier and technological factors affecting strategic planning at the UCLA Medical Center are the ability of medical materials and equipment suppliers to dictate prices, availability and cost of professionally qualified personnel, the availability and cost of capital, and both the pace and cost of technological change. The relevant social and other factors affecting the strategic planning process at the UCLA Medical Center are dynamic. What is a highly significant factor today may be of little consequence (in the context of strategic planning) tomorrow, and vice versa. The very uncertainty of such factors causes many administrators to attempt to ignore the potential effects on the organization of these factors in the strategic planning process (Marx, 1991, pp. 21-28). Administrators tend to have little tolerance for ambi
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Medical Center, Mason Dickel, Pellitier Donnelly, Freeman Robinson, strategic planning, planning process, strategic planning process, Rees Brooks-Rooney, medical center, ucla medical center, ucla medical, UCLA Medical, Introduction Formal, Popolow Ramseyer, Litschert Ramaswamy, Angeles County, external environment, planning process ucla, process ucla, process ucla medical, pp 151-155, donnelly pp 151-155, pellitier donnelly, donnelly pp, rockwell pellitier,
Approximate Word count = 1732
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)