The truth of the matter is strategic planning, following a process consistently for setting the direction of your organization, does make a difference. Selecting the appropriate direction or road, if you will, does improve the likelihood of long-term success. The research in the chart below demonstrates how following a process or system can dramatically improve performance compared to those who do not.

Having observed the effects of having a plan vs. not having one, I believe it is imperative to pick a process. In fact, there are many process choices for building strategy, including more than 9,000 books on Amazon ...