Abstract: | What is the difference between strategic management and a typical strategic plan? It is simply not enough today to restate and refine current organizational strategy, when the environment is demanding innovation and the rules of the game are rapidly changing. What are the consequences for hospital administrators and boards that still believe that catering to medical specialists and inpatient facility improvement will suffice when the future will be driven by greater needs for outpatient and primary care provider services? Developing a plan based on outdated operations or assumptions may speed the organization's decline. Strategic management involves a process of thinking through a "vision" of what sort of organization you want and asking extremely difficult questions. |