Strategic planning encourages, if not forces, managers to take a holistic view of both the business and its environment. Managing a company strategically means thinking and action. Objectives, strategies, policies or actions may, on the surface, appear contradictory and mutually exclusive, but in reality they can work together. Consider, for example, achieving sales growth versus controlling costs. Evidence has shown that companies can reduce costs and, at the same time, plan for sustained growth.
Markets consist of both buyers and sellers, customers and competitive suppliers.
Both holding to a strategic vision and having flexibility in tactical action can be equally valid, simultaneously. It can be argued that developing a powerful and coherent strategic vision that is well understood and well communicated can increase, rather than decrease, an organization's ability to act flexibly in response to changes in the tactical situation. Market leaders follow the dictates of the market Today, many would argue that it is better to be a market leader than a follower. Yet, with global restructuring of markets and industries, market leaders are, in reality, following the needs and dictates of the existing or potential market by developing new products and services. The debate continues over whether it is better to act on rational analysis versus operating on intuition, insight and hunches.