Difference between Strategic Management and Strategic Planning

Compare and Contrast Strategic Planning with Strategic Management / Distinguish between Strategic Management and Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning 

Strategic Planning is defined as a systematic process or organization’s process of envisioning a desired future, and translating this vision into broadly defined goals or objectives and sequence of steps to achieve them. It is an organizational management process activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, ensure that employees and other stakeholders are working toward common goals, establish agreement around intended outcomes and assess and adjust the organization’s direction in response to a changing environment. In process of strategic planning, the planner should ask to himself/herself that “What must be done here to reach the higher stage?” and “What must be done at the lower stage to reach higher stage?”. This makes the plan more strategic and drastic.

Strategic Management 

Strategic management is the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by a company’s top management on behalf of owners, based on consideration of resources and an assessment of the internal and external environments in which the organization competes. In simpler words, it is the management of an organization’s resources to achieve its goals and objectives. Strategic management process activity involves goal setting/setting objectives, analyzing the competitive environment, analyzing the internal organization, strategy formulation, evaluating strategies and ensuring that management rolls out the strategies across the organization. 

Differences of Strategic Planning and Strategic Management in tabular form are as follows;

Strategic Planning	Strategic Management
Strategic planning is the process of formulating a direction for an organization.	Strategic management is the process of determining how this direction can be achieved.
Strategic Planning comes initially in the activity of strategic process.	After completion of strategic planning, strategic management process begins.
Strategic planning involves making decisions and taking actions that help your organization achieve goals.	Strategic management involves setting the overall goals, values and direction of the organization.
Strategic planning is a analytical process.	Strategic management is action oriented process.
It is management by plans.	It is management by results.
Strategic planning chalk out all the plans for the company.	In strategic management, strategies so formulated are identified and are described so that the managers are able to do their job in the best possible manner and so as to achieve a competitive edge over their competitors.
In strategic planning, strategic planners develop the plan for the firm after consulting with mangers, employees and often the board of directors.	In Strategic management, it is managers who develop the firm’s strategy.
In strategic planning, managers are subjected for strategic planning.	In strategic management, managers are subjected in controlling positions..
There is identification of actions to be taken.	There is identification of actions to be taken, selections of individuals who will perform the actions, choosing of right time to perform the action and methods to perform the action.

Strategic management and planning are key to a company’s success but the scope of strategic management is greater than the strategic planning. Strategic management being greater in scope is in the sense that it is more important that encompasses drafting strategies to stand in the competition and is helpful for the survival, growth, and expansion of the company. While strategic planning is an activity performed by the top management of the organization, that helps to relate the organization with the business environment.