Types Of Strategic Control With Examples
A system to evaluate and control can help businesses effectively monitor performances and strategies. Studying the types of strategic control…
December 27, 2021 | 4 mins read
A system to evaluate and control can help businesses effectively monitor performances and strategies. Studying the types of strategic control in management helps us rethink business strategies. We can stay better equipped to take immediate and appropriate actions in the event of an unintended outcome if we’re accustomed to the four types of strategic control in management.
Knowing and applying the different types of strategic control can let a manager control the strategic direction of a business and steer it toward the organization’s long-term goal. If we look at the different types of strategic control with examples, we get to see how each of them can help track a strategy, detect any problem or change that can alter the result and make appropriate adjustments to avoid undesired outcomes.
Read on to find out the different types of strategic control with examples.
Strategic control is a method to manage and execute a strategic plan. It’s a unique process in strategy management that can handle unknown and ambiguous elements or factors related to a strategy’s implementation, premise, outcome or surveillance. The different types of strategic control show how to control and manage a strategy’s implementation and outcome by adapting to internally and externally changing factors.
Knowing the different types of strategic control can allow us to better analyze a business’ capability to maximize its strength and open up opportunities in an industry. Each type of strategic control offers a different perspective and way of analysis to boost the effectiveness of a business strategy. Let’s look at the four types of strategic control in management:
A strategy is based on an assumption of how certain events will take place in the future. Premise control allows us to examine whether or not that assumption holds true after the strategy has been implemented and adapt to changes accordingly. Environmental factors like inflation, interest rates, or industry factors like competition or supply affect this type of strategic control.
Out of the four types of strategic control, this one focuses on the most important part of a strategy — its implementation. It assesses implementation activities, events, and results step-by-step and ensures that no changes are needed. There are two types of implementation control:
Special alert control allows assessing a business in particular circumstances such as natural disasters or a market crash. This type of strategic control helps us analyze a strategy under new circumstances and handle them with appropriate tools, procedures and priorities.
Strategic surveillance control identifies overlooked factors, inside and outside an organization, that can affect its strategy. Smaller businesses mainly use it as a broader information scan for awareness of an industry and its trends.
The implementation period is riddled with evolution and changes. Managers must know the different types of strategic control to prevent strategies from going awry and yielding undesired outcomes.
Here are the different types of strategic control with examples:
A bicycle brand started manufacturing and selling skateboards with millennials as the target consumers. After a quarterly sales review, premise control revealed that the fastest-growing skateboard consumers are a generation younger.
Setting performance standards, measuring real performance and analyzing the root cause behind failure to meet these standards are common forms of implementation control. Schedules, budgets and milestones are also considered implementation control.
After 9/11, US commercial airlines were compelled to adopt safety protocols that were tighter and stricter to address the intense fear of flying on commercial planes seen in passengers.
Information sources such as trade magazines, newspapers, financial journals, conferences and economic forums are all strategic surveillance controls that can identify potential changes in an industry and offer possible responses.
No business can look away just by putting a well-thought-out strategy in place. They have to evolve with the changes and react to them, if and when necessary. The various types of strategic control are crucial to offering solutions related to strategies that an organization plans to implement.
Managers must be familiar with all the control techniques and other methods of problem-solving associated with strategic management. Harappa’s See The Big Picture pathway is a significant step for individuals to develop a holistic approach to finding solutions. Learn how to have a bi-focal approach to analyze every situation from all angles. The Balcony and Dance Floor framework will help you reflect and act at the same time. The Hypothesis Trees will teach you to analyze problems in depth.
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