Theoretically, strategic planning comes first. It offers a long-term orientation upon which operational day-to-day business decisions can be made. Theoretically there is no alternative because without strategic principles there are no guidelines upon which action alternatives can be assessed. Therefore this should also be the case in practice.
However, it is often more efficient if you approach it correctly. Short-term plans, thus budgets, are higher priority and have a greater obligation than they often appear to have, due to qualitative strategic statements of intent. They are therefore taken seriously in many cases.
It is your task to continually observe strategic deficits when formulating budgetary targets, which are usually revealed painfully and in great numbers within the scope of budgeting.
A typical example of this is the issue of pricing, which is driven solely by the competition, and without a clear portrait of the target customer, the position in the market and future developments. Once such an issue arises, and I guarantee that it won’t take long, point out the need to tackle and focus upon this issue peacefully.
The relevance of strategic definitions is recognized more clearly by the actual problem than if you were to call for a strategy examination seemingly without cause. The results are more accurate and viable as you have the specific case in mind.
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