Making strategic planning work: a case study of Countrywide Financial
Abstract
Purpose
Strategic planning is a misunderstood and maligned managerial tool. Most organizations have tried it but relatively few actually achieve success in strategic planning.
Design/methodology/approach
The experience of Countrywide Financial Corporation demonstrates how strategic planning can be used as a key lever for change and describes the benefits that accrued to it through this process. Stanford Kurland, the Company’s COO, engaged Eric Flamholtz to assist with developing a more sophisticated approach to strategic planning at Countrywide. Flamholtz introduced: a template for organizational assessment and development; and a systematic process for strategic planning that had been applied elsewhere with considerable success. The new planning process s became a corporate priority.
Findings
The planning system has also led to a variety of other significant organizational benefits including: a constructive forum for elevating management’s focus from tactical and operational concerns to broader strategic challenges; a shift away from a “silo mentality” to a “Countrywide perspective”; a clear set of priorities to guide operating unit activities and decision‐making; measurable objectives that emphasize linkages across organizational boundaries; and greater understanding and communication of the plan throughout the organization.
Originality/value
Kurland was focused on longer‐range issues for the company, but most of the other members of Countrywide’s senior management were more focused on short‐term competitive success in their own divisions. It led to significant changes and benefits at Countrywide, including a strategic shift in corporate direction.
Keywords
Citation
Flamholtz, E. and Kurland, S. (2006), "Making strategic planning work: a case study of Countrywide Financial", Handbook of Business Strategy, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 187-193. https://doi.org/10.1108/10775730610618800
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited