Strategic planning addresses the strategic issues within a business and its operating environment. It evaluates the current market place, sales,available capacity, profit margins, operations, supply and demand, industry players and the ability of these to supply different geographic and consumer markets. Strategic planning is usually carried out by the executive management team, strategic planners and analysts who gather data and information from many different sources including their own customers and businesses to determine where the business is in terms of the industry and marketplace. In some cases businesses will engage operations and management consultants to help with the strategic planning process The strategic planning process addresses several including: -Market size, industry players market share, volumes and product offerings -General Production planning and operations review -Cost curve analysis - Inventory management - Capacity planning and current capacity utilization -Raw material supplies and supply chain issues -Competitor operational and profitability analysis including cost curve analysis and swot analysis. -Production unit costs and delivered costs to different regions. -Potential merger and acquisition analysis -Potential new entrants and Five strategic forces analysis -Joint venture and business partnerships -Takeover defence strategies Strategic planning is usually considered an important part of business management and when these strategic issues are addressed the business is set up to succeed and achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace. More on operations management concepts