<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy . It may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the strategy . Strategic planning became prominent in corporations during the 1960s and remains an important aspect of strategic management . It is executed by strategic planners or strategists, who involve many parties and research sources in their analysis of the organization and its relationship to the environment in which it competes . </P> <P> Strategy has many definitions, but generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions . A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources). The senior leadership of an organization is generally tasked with determining strategy . Strategy can be planned (intended) or can be observed as a pattern of activity (emergent) as the organization adapts to its environment or competes . </P>

Strategic planning begins with the conception of the organization’s ____