What is a Strategic Analysis?

A strategic analysis is an external review of what is happening in the environment in which your organization operates now, as well as short, medium and long term futures.

It requires looking at several situations:

• What is happening now that may impact the organisation
• What might happen that could impact the organization
• What is the organizations response likely to be to change?
• How well prepared are the people in the organization to respond to change?

Understanding meaning:

Strategic as it is high level, superficial and about the future

Analysis is the act of breaking something large into smaller, understandable pieces

We need to consider 3 main groups in any analysis or review:

• Our people and their skills & competences
• Our customers – what do they want now, and what will they want in the future
• Our competitors and the competitive environment in which we operate. What are they doing, what may impact our sector (legals etc)

See our pages on SWOT, PRIMO-F & PESTLE for practical tools and approaches.