Abstract:
Much has been documented about the importance of effective strategic
planning as a basis for an organisation to gain a sustainable competitive
advantage. Inadequate strategic planning is also widely recognised to be
one of the major factors that contribute to the failure of most small
organisations. At the same time, developing a strategy for an information
technology organisation is increasingly becoming a complex exercise,
considering the rate at which the field is growing and the need for
organisations in this field to respond quickly to changing market demands.
For large organisations, it may be a matter of ensuring that existing, tried
and tested strategies are frequently updated. For small organisations on the
other hand, this may be a nightmare of an exercise.
In this research, the author explores a number of strategic planning
approaches with the aim of identifying elements in them that could assist
the strategy development process of a small information technology
company. After a detailed analysis of conventional approaches to strategic
management, it suggests a framework which uses the Core Competence
Approach to strategy development as a basis. It is supplemented by
selected techniques of Strategic Choice as a toolset for systematic
decision-making within the strategy development process of a small
information technology company. Also included, is a case study on the
application and evaluation of the suggested framework for an initial
strategy-development process at a typical small information technology
company.
