Strategic Human Resource Management

Section Two

Table 2-2
Functions of Strategic Planning

1. Periodic forward scanning


2. Analysis based on longer time frame


3. Communication about goals and resource allocation


4. Framework for short-term plan evaluation and
   integration


5. Institutionalization of longer-term time horizons
   necessary for investments such as in research and
   development


6. Decisional criteria framework for short-term decision
   making

Source: Adapted from James B. Quinn. “Strategic Change: Logical Incrementalism,”
Sloan Management Review 30, no. 4 (1989): 45–55.

Competitive Strategy in Business Units

To this point, the discussion of strategic planning has been
primarily focused at the corporate level. Nonetheless,
competitive strategies at the business level are very relevant to
human resources and the development of human resource
strategies. Michael Porter’s framework provides a good basis for
understanding competitive strategies at the business level.
Porter has argued that there are five forces that affect the