1.8 TheStrategicAudit:AidtoStrategicDecision-Making
The strategic decision-making process is put into action through a technique known as the strategic audit. A strategic audit provides a checklist of questions, by area or issue, that enables a systematic analysis to be made of various corporate functions and activities. (See Appendix 1.A at the end of this chapter.) Note that the numbered primary headings in the audit are thesame as the numbered blocks in the strategic decision-making process in Figure 1–5. Beginning with an evaluation of current performance, the audit continues with environmental scanning, strategy formulation, and strategy implementation, and it concludes with evaluation and control. A strategic audit is a type of management audit and is extremely useful as a diagnostic tool to pinpoint corporatewide problem areas and to highlight organizational strengths and weaknesses.87 A strategic audit can help determine why a certain area is creating problems for a corporation and help generate solutions to the problem.