The following could serve as an academic definition of SP: ‘‘A
proactive, structured process implemented by organizations
consisting of the dynamic use of specific selected external
opportunities that engage and develop internal competencies
with the aim of fulfilling the organization’s mission and creating
value for its stakeholders’’.
An alternative definition could be ‘‘A set of processes carried out
to identify the future desired by the organization and to develop
guidelines for making the decisions leading to such a future. When
an organization behaves reliably and consistently over time, it can
be said to have a strategy. The strategy is a means that the
organization chooses in order to move from its current situation to
a desired situation in the future’’.
The term ‘‘strategic’’ has 2 components that should be
highlighted. The first refers to the decisive importance4 that
should be placed on anything considered to have a strategic role.
This role is frequently conferred on trivial matters, which should be
avoided to prevent misuse of the term. Secondly, the term
‘‘strategic’’ should only be associated with the medium- and longterm
future (3 years or more) in contrast to the term ‘‘operational’’,
which applies to a time horizon of 1 year or less. ‘‘Strategic’’
denotes a highly substantial issue that cannot be associated with
the short term.