cts the strategic planning process (Porter, 1996).
In the late-1970s, Henry Mintzberg (1979) identified an external coalition as a description of an organization's external environment. Included in this external coalition were (1) owners, assuming that the organization is a publicly-held company, (2) suppliers, (3) unions, and (4) the general public. While retaining this general concept, William Glueck (1988) expanded the definition of an organization's external environment substantially. This expanded definition of the external environment included economic factors, governmental and legal factors, market and competitive factors, supplier and technological factors, geographic factors, social factors and other factors (Mintzberg, 1994).
A firm's external environment, thus, is composed of an incredibly complex and diverse array of factors. Unfortunately, all of these factors have a dynamic characteristic. The one thing that strategic planners can count on is that the inputs on which they rely will not remain stable for very long; over the short-term, perhaps, but over the long-term, certainly not (Kay, 1993).
Many researchers contend that a firm's strategic planning must necessarily begin with the firm's objectives. The general contention is that, only when objectives have been established and goals set for the accomplishment of these objectives, can strategy planning be effective. Michael McCaskey (1974) challenged the assumption that objectives and goals must be set before strategy planning can be effective. He contended that the dynamic character of the environmental factors dictated against strategic planning based on predetermined objectives and goals. McCaskey (1974) held that strategic planning must be an intuitive process, if it is to be effective. He perceived an intuitive strategic planning process to be one in which strategic planners proceed to (1) identify arenas of activity, and (2) preferred (by the or...