After studying this chapter, students should be able to:

1. Summarize the planning process and describe organizational goals.
   
   
2. Discuss the components of strategy and types of strategic alternatives.
   
   
3. Describe how to use SWOT analysis in formulating strategy.
   
   
4. Identify and describe various alternative approaches to business-level strategy formulation.
   
   
5. Identify and describe various alternative approaches to corporate-level strategy formulation and describe how corporate-level strategies are implemented.
   
   
6. Discuss how tactical plans are developed and executed.
   
   
7. Describe the basic types of operational plans used by organizations.