School of Commerce

Strategic Planning

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Facilitated by

Ramon R. Mañalac

Chairman

Business Managemenet Departmenet

The Strategic Planning Team of the School of Commerce was proposed on May 22, 2005 on the basis of the resolution agreed by the School of Commerce faculty during the School's Strategic Planning Workshop on May 20-22, 2005 at the Legenda Suites, Subic Freezone. Its main task is the management of the strategic planning process of the School of Commerce from planning and implementation to monitoring and control as well as to ensure a holistic approach in the formulation of strategic directions and implementation of the School's operational plans. The creation of a dedicated planning unit arose from the recognition that the absence of full time managers of the strategic planning process can pose risks to the continuity of the School's planning agreements and to the synergy of various projects and initiatives across the organization.

Strategic Planning in the School of Commerce

Tasked with organizing and facilitating the planning workshop, the interim strategic planning team was assisted by the Dean of Commerce in mounting the Strategic Planning Workshop on May 20-22, 2005.

This planning exercise introduced several innovations and enhancements in the planning process. The participants, composed of Academic Department Heads and the faculty members went through the entire strategic planning process - from setting up the external and internal environment scenario, revisiting and finalizing the School of Commerce vision and mission, recognition of core values defining the School's organizational culture, identification of key success areas and factors for measurement, assessment of current state of the organization through SWOT analysis, and formulation of School level core strategies and strategic actions that will provide strategic focus and alignment for Departmental operational plans. In this respect, a "top-to-bottom" approach in direction setting was adopted, where the Dean of Commerce laid out the key directions for the School, which served as guide in the discussions of the working groups for the workshop.

A cross-departmental constitution of workshop groups was also adopted to leverage on the diversity of expertise and experience of the workshop participants. This more consultative approach significantly enriched the quality of the planning process and its outputs.

To unify the intent and elements of the strategic planning exercise and link them closer to the School's vision and mission, a common rallying cry was adopted for the planning horizon - "St. Scho: The School of Choice". The slogan highlighted the need to respond to change with a "best culture and practice" orientation, a pre-requisite to becoming strategically competitive.

For the first time in its chronicle, the School endeavored to blueprint its future by formulating its 3-year Strategic Plan from SY 2005-06 to SY 2007-08 to ensure that strategies and action plans are aligned toward the attainment of the School of Commerce vision and mission. A longer planning horizon was considered to allow for a more strategic approach, compared to previous planning exercises, which focused mainly on planning for the following year.

Issues and Challenges

Great strides have been made in the past to enhance the School's planning process. This notwithstanding, a lot of things still need to be done, including the following:

The adoption of a formal strategic management framework which shall serve as a tool for school-wide planning, implementation, measurement and monitoring;
The official creation of the Strategic Planning Team as a unit under the School of Commerce with duly appointed staff to perform designated duties and responsibilities, and to receive compensation accordingly;
The necessary budget provisions for The Strategic Planning Team's logistics requirement;
The consolidation and formal documentation of the 3-year Strategic Plan on the basis of the pioneering May 20-22, 2005 Strategic Planning Workshop;
The translation of the resulting strategic plans to Academic Departments' annual operational plans;