Strategic planning Strategic planning is an important part of any business entity that is focusing on growth. Through strategic planning, an organization is able to link its mission and vision statements, and also prepare adequately for the competitive future. Strategic planning also offers a channel through which decision making process can be improved and hence promotes efficient stewardship. Linda Jacober’s case study is a perfect example of how strategic planning helps to foster efficiency in an organization. Strategic planning is therefore a well-coordinated effort that is aimed at producing major pronouncements and actions that help in the shaping and guidance a business entity. It also defines what an organization offers in terms of products. This analysis offers a good example of the challenges that organizations face while coming up with a strategic plan and putting the same into action. The general process of takeover of a business entity was not that easy since the situation was complex due to the implementation of a new strategic plan (Roche, 2009). The new owner of the business faced several challenges ranging from the business policy in place and the change in the strategy, to more complex difficulties. The style of business policy at the time the business was taken over was quite different from the proposed strategy. The development and implementation of the policy was hectic and challenging. The company was facing some legal problems involving financial bankruptcy cases as well as between the company and independent distributors. The company’s major supply source was in the main reason why it was shut down. This led to another problem since the company had to seek another supply source. The new strategy therefore, came into play when Mac was still adapting to the new conditions. Challenges Linda Jacober had faced many organizational challenges since the first day she joined this company. These problems were diverse such as the company’s preference of low-level over high-level employees’ ideas when making major decisions and the business policy in place which seemed to be outdated (Roche, 2009). The company was also in poor relationship with the outside vendors. However, Linda developed some level of credibility since she was open to negotiations compared to the former management. The policy that she came up with on cutting down expenses also posed a major challenge as the company sales dropped drastically, especially cutting down of truck inventory by 50%. Reducing the overhead expenses posed a major challenge because the company had to cancel training sessions resulting into uncollected receivables (Roche, 2009). Linda had worked as a manager in the Toy Company at the department of corporate licensing. This responsibility was challenging for her and as such, she was astonished by the offer at Mac tools. This was the case since she lacked experience in jobs that dealt with industrial products’ distribution. Mac tools had also put in place a new initiative called Mac Direct and its success was dependent on Linda’s decisions. For Mac to be upfront from its major rivals, a strategic plan had to be developed and implemented in order to drive Mac tools to su