Strategic planning Vs Tactical planning

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.
Tactical planning takes a company's strategic plan and sets forth specific short-term actions and plans, usually by company department or function. The tactical planning horizon is shorter than the strategic plan horizon.
In business usage, the term strategy is the thinking process required to plan a change or to organize something. It defines the goals desired and how to achieve them. It can be a compendium of complex multi-layered plans devised for achieving preset objectives and may include tactical planning considerations. Tactics are the substance of strategy. They comprise what is done pursuant to strategic planning. The strategic phase of business planning has thinkers (you- the small business owner) determining ways to achieve stated goals. Simply stated, they plan how people need to act in order to attain the objectives for which the strategy is to be used.

Difference between Strategy and Tactics

	Strategy	Tactics
Purpose	To identify clear broader goals that advance the overall organization and organize resources.	To utilize specific resources to achieve sub-goals that support the defined mission.
Roles	Individuals who influence resources in the organization. They understand how a set of tactics work together to achieve goals.	Specific domain experts that maneuver limited resources into actions to achieve a set of goals.
Accountability	Held accountable to overall health of organization.	Held accountable to specific resources assigned.
Scope	All the resources within the organizations, as well as broader market conditions including competitors, customers, and economy.  Yet don’t over think it, to paraphrase my business partner Charlene Li, “Strategy is often what you don’t do”.	A subset of resources used in a plan or process. Tactics are often specific tactics with limited resources to achieve broader goals.
Duration	Long Term, changes infrequently.	Shorter Term, flexible to specific market conditions.
Methods	Uses experience, research, analysis, thinking, then communication.	Uses experiences, best practices, plans, processes, and teams.
Outputs	Produces clear organizational goals, plans, maps, guideposts, and key performance measurements.	Produces clear deliverables and outputs using people, tools, time.

QUIZ. Which of the following would NOT be an accurate depiction of the differences between strategic and tactical planning?
A. Strategic planning is developed mainly by upper-level management and tactical planning is generally developed by lower-level management
B.   Facts for strategic planning are generally easier to gather than facts for tactical planning
C.   Strategic plans generally contain less details than tactical plans
D.   Strategic plans generally cover a longer period of time than tactical plans
Answer: B

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