BTEC Level 5 Diploma
Strategic Business Management and Planning
Learning outcomes Assessment criteria
1 Understand the role of strategic planning in organisations
1.1 Evaluate processes by which organisations identify their goals and values
1.2 Discuss the purpose and role of strategic business management and planning in an organisation
1.3 Evaluate the classic and contemporary models used in developing business strategies and plans
2 Understand the impact of internal and external factors on organisations
2.1 Analyse ways in which the internal and external environment can influence organisational management and planning strategies
2.2 Discuss the influence of organisational governance requirements on management and planning strategies
2.3 Explore the impact of internal and external risk factors on strategic business management activities
3 Understand the strategies that organisations use to achieve competitive advantage
3.1 Analyse ways in which an organisation positions itself to outperform its competitors
3.2 Evaluate appropriate competitor advantage strategies for emerging, maturing and declining positions
4 Understand the environmental factors that affect strategic business management and planning
4.1 Discuss how emerging global issues can impact upon on the strategic management and planning activities in an organisation
4.2 Evaluate the impact of stakeholder interests in shaping strategic management and planning activities in an organisation
4.3 Analyse ways in which organisations respond to environmental factors, when making strategic plans
Unit content
1 Understand the role of strategic planning in organisations
Business objectives: vision; mission; values; goals; objectives; setting objectives e.g. founder, owners, primary decision makers, nominal group technique, expert judgement, ‘straw man’, group consensus; strategic planning features including direction, focus, resources, time constraints, achievable outcomes, performance indicators; framework for managerial action Strategic planning: models e.g. mechanistic planning; goals-based planning; issues-based planning; alignment planning; scenario planning; organic planning; real time planning; strategy hierarchy; consistency between business strategy and subsidiary strategies
2 Understand the impact of internal and external factors on organisations
Business environment: environmental analysis techniques: external to include political, economic, social, technological, legal and ethical (PESTLE) analysis, environmental scanning, horizon scanning; internal e.g. strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities threats (SWOT) analysis and mission, objectives, strategies, tactics (MOST) analysis; business environments (macro-environment, mesoenvironment,
micro-environment) Governance: UK Corporate Governance Code; business leadership; establishing mission; providing direction; long term planning; creating and delegating authority; establishing policies and procedures; legal and regulatory
compliance; oversight of progress; ensuring business continuity; culture; lines
of accountability; strategy review Risk: types (operational, financial, hazard, strategic); uncertainty; risk probability; impact of risk; cost of risk; recognising risk as a factor in strategic planning
3 Understand the strategies that organisations use to achieve competitive advantage
Competitive advantage: revenue growth; sales volumes; profitability; market share; productivity; cost control; market leadership; technological leadership; innovation; reputation; integration of business functions; responsiveness to customers; pricing strategies
Strategies: product based e.g. differentiation, innovation, diversification,
contraction; price/cost based; service based; growth; market dominance; engineering; de-layering; re-structuring; down-sizing; market position(emerging, maturing, declining); matching strategy to market position
4 Understand the environmental factors that affect strategic business
management and planning
Environmental factors: global issues; location of production; cost of production; emerging markets; supply chain management; environmental concerns e.g. carbon emissions, genetically modified products; international trade agreements; economic alliances; international monetary environment; ethical concerns; responding to global and environmental factors in strategic plans Stakeholders: stakeholders internal e.g. managers, employees; external e.g. owners, lenders, government agencies, competitors; stakeholders’ interests e.g. claims, power, influence, priority; responding to stakeholder interests in strategic plans
