Business Tactical Planning

The business organization can broadly be distinguished into three level viz. strategic, tactical and operational level. The tactical planning takes place at the middle management level of the organization. Tactical planning is laying down short term plans so as to achieve the long term objectives of the organization.

It all starts at the top level of the organization with the strategic planning, where the top management first defines the mission. The mission defines the very existence of the organization, and what the business wants to be or achieve in the years to come. This is followed by the analyzing the weaknesses and strengths of the organization, the external factors affecting the business, the threats to the business, the competitors, and what are the opportunities which the business can tap. This leads to the identification of the opportunities, the resources of the firm and its core competencies which can be utilized to achieve the mission of the organization. This is strategic planning and it lays down the long term plans for the organization.

These long term plans are then broken down into short term plans at the middle management level of the organization and this is tactical planning. Thus strategic and tactical plans differ but they have one common goal which is to achieve the mission of the organization and take it to greater heights.

The planning involves following steps:

1. Identify the objectives on the basis of the strategic plan
2. Identify the possible actions that can be taken to achieve the objective.
3. The resources needed to carry out the action required.
4. Any possible constraints and adverse situations that might be faced when the tactics are implemented.
5. Plan some possible actions under the situation of constraints.
6. Finalizing the tactics and implementing it.
7. Reviewing and evaluating them so as to find out whether the objectives are being achieved.
   

The management must clearly understand the objectives of the strategic plan before laying out the tactical plan. An effective plan leads to an efficient use of the resources. This is only possible when the planner understands the strategy of the organization and follows tactics that are best suited to make the strategy successful.

Thus tactic planners should be very clear as to what the objectives are. While planning, analyze the resources available, the possible hindrances and the adverse situations that may be faced while execution and how these situations can be handled.