The Role Of Strategic Planning In Enhancing Organizational Competitiveness: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Strategic planning has been considered a critical factor in determining an organization's competitiveness, despite the fact that empirical research has seldom looked at the practice in terms of industry and firm size. The current study looks at how planning structure, stakeholder participation, and temporal perspective relate to company performance, differentiating between manufacturing and information technology (IT) organizations as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and big enterprises. A mixed-methods comparative design was used. Multiple regressions and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to analyze quantitative data from 32 organizations in order to ascertain the relationship between planning procedures and the expansion of market share and return on assets (ROA). Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted to elucidate contextual variations in planning procedures. The results demonstrate that organized, interactive, and flexible planning procedures foster competitiveness. Large IT organizations have a particularly high correlation between innovation-driven growth and formal planning. SMEs benefit from targeted, team-based planning efforts even though they frequently do not employ formalized procedures. The trends across the industries show that whereas manufacturing firms use planning primarily to control risks and improve operational efficiency, IT businesses use it to promote agility. Strategic coherence is promoted by cross-functional participation and regular reviews, and governments should institutionalize assistance and planning literacy, particularly for SMEs. Therefore, by integrating process-oriented knowledge with comparative analysis, the current study advances the theory of strategic management by demonstrating the importance of contextually sensitive planning techniques. Additionally, it reaffirms the strategic relevance of planning by balancing the views of resource-based and dynamic capacities.