Promise Control

Planning premises/assumptions are established early on in the strategic planning process and act as a basis for formulating strategies.

"Premise control has been designed to check systematically and continuously whether or not the premises set during the planning and implementation process are still valid.

It involves the checking of environmental conditions. Premises are primarily concerned with two types of factors:

• Environmental factors (for example, inflation, technology, interest rates, regulation, and demographic/social changes).
• Industry factors (for example, competitors, suppliers, substitutes, and barriers to entry).

All premises may not require the same amount of control. Therefore, managers must select those premises and variables that (a)are likely to change and (b) would a major impact on the company and its strategy if the did.

Implementation Control

Strategic implantation control provides an additional source of feedforward information.

"Implementation control is designed to assess whether the overall strategy should be changed in light of unfolding events and results associated with incremental steps and actions that implement the overall strategy."

Strategic implementation control does not replace operational control. Unlike operations control, strategic implementation control continuously questions the basic direction of the strategy. The two basis types of implementation control are:

1. Monitoring strategic thrusts (new or key strategic programs). Two approaches are useful in enacting implementation controls focused on monitoring strategic thrusts: (1) one way is to agree early in the planning process on which thrusts are critical factors in the success of the strategy or of that thrust; (2) the second approach is to use stop/go assessments linked to a series of meaningful thresholds (time, costs, research and development, success, etc.) associated with particular thrusts.
2. Milestone Reviews. Milestones are significant points in the development of a programme, such as points where large commitments of resources must be made. A milestone review usually involves a full-scale reassessment of the strategy and the advisability of continuing or refocusing the direction of the company. In order to control the current strategy, must be provided in strategic plans.