Strategic planners are an integral part of any organization for a very simple reason that they create and sharpen a company’s strategy and shape it from time to time as and when required.
In case, a firm does not own a solid team of strategic planners, it sure is close to doomsday as they are the main players in the organization who put in hard efforts to collect, analyze as well as organize relevant information. In a general sense, strategy management professionals are responsible for:
- They keep a track of industry trends and competitor activities
- Build forecasting models along with scenario analysis
- Inspect strategic performance
- Pinpoint emerging market opportunities
- Spot business threats
- Come up with novel strategic solutions
- Create innovative action plans
Strategic planners typically serve in a staff or support role. They can act in disparate areas, such as product development, strategic planning, product management, change management, and corporate planning.
Careers in Strategy Management
There is a wide range of titles that strategic planners hold and they perform tasks as per their respective designations.
- Strategic Manager
Strategic managers play a huge role in strategy planning as well as strategy implementation tasks of an organization. They are mostly found in senior management positions where they possess great authority and are allowed to make important strategic decisions.
As a matter of fact, a CEO can be seen as the most critical and visible strategic manager. Fundamentally, any manager responsible for the performance of a division or unit, for the profit and loss result along with direct control over a large part of the business can be referred to as a strategic manager. Job designations include:
- vice president
- director
- general manager
- division head
- CEO
- Management Consultant
Consultants perform as analysts or advisors of the business. They solve major problems, bridge the skills gaps for the organization, and they are also called for providing expertise along with opinions on essential matters. The Job positions include
- Analyst
- Researcher
- junior consultant
- junior associate
- associate
- team leader
- senior consultant
- consulting manager
- junior partner
- senior partner.
- Competitive Intelligence Analyst
Some organizations spend countless resources in comprehending their industry environment, competitor strength and what they are up to. Competitive intelligence analysts focus on gathering information related to the organization’s key competitors all around the world.
- Strategic Cost Analyst
Strategic cost analysts determine the cost of all the business activities in the organization. They utilize tools, such as break-even analysis and activity-based costing to identify the opportunity costs of resources dedicated to many corporate activities. They play a big role in pinpointing which business division should be retained and invested in.
- Transformation Agent
Many Companies are wanting to gain higher flexibility & implement the required changes. Therefore, they hire a transformation officer who is expected to work with teams of professionals who manage change in the organization. Their job is to assist in creating incentives and in analyzing which unit of the business needs to be transformed.
