Strategic Planning and Operations
Core concepts
Know the strategic planning cycle: environmental scan, SWOT analysis, mission/vision/values, goal setting (SMART goals), strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation. Understand Porter's Five Forces and generic strategies (cost leadership, differentiation, focus), the balanced scorecard (financial, customer, internal process, learning and growth), and key performance indicators. Grasp operations concepts: capacity planning, queuing theory, cycle time, throughput, lean/six sigma, and the theory of constraints. Understand market analysis, service line planning, and the difference between strategic and operational plans.
Traps
SWOT distinguishes internal factors (strengths, weaknesses) from external factors (opportunities, threats) - a frequent misclassification. SMART goals must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound; vague goals fail. The balanced scorecard is not just financial metrics - it explicitly balances four perspectives. Lean focuses on eliminating waste; six sigma focuses on reducing variation - they are complementary, not identical.
Worked example / rule of thumb
A clinic's average arrival rate exceeds its service capacity, causing long waits. Using queuing theory, adding capacity reduces wait time nonlinearly - small capacity increases can dramatically reduce waits when utilization is near 100%. Rule of thumb: utilization above ~85% causes wait times to rise sharply.
For strategy questions, ask: is the advantage internal (SWOT) or external (Porter's forces)? Match the tool to the question.