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Strategic management:
Strategic management is an art and science of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross functional decisions that enables an organization to achieve its goals and objectives. A cross functional decision mean a plan that involves all of the functional departments of the organization. This definition of strategic management shows that there are three stages of or steps in str. mgt. that is formulating, implementing and evaluation.

1:- Formulating:
In this step the upper mgt creates vision. mission and long term objectives for the org. vision and mission are the purpose of the org and have no boundaries, while long term objectives are limited to a specific boundaries. these long term objectives are usually for a duration up to on to five years. Once these are developed, the management then develop a plan of action for achieving these objectives, this plan is known as strategy. this strategy is then passed to the functional departments and the next phase (implementation) begins.

2:- Implementation phase:

in this stage the long term objectives are divided into short term (usually annual) objectives and planes are formulated for them, these annual planes are known as policies. the annual objectives are further divided into functional and departmental objectives and are assigned to concerned department. policy formulation also involves resources planning, procedures planning and formulation of rules and regulations.

3:- Evaluating:
In strategic management, you have to constantly evaluate what is happening in your company, and if any of the steps you have taken are effective or simply hindering your company from making progress. If the latter is true, you will then need to reevaluate and establish a new set of measures.

competitive advantage:
Competitive advantage is defined as the strategic advantage one business entity has over its rival entities within its competitive industry. Achieving competitive advantage strengthens and positions a business better within the business environment. competitive advantage can be achieved through cost leader ship or through differentiation. in price sensitive markets, reducing the price can increase customer base, but it is not good practice to reduce your profit margin for price reduction, the best approach is to reduce your cost (achieve cost leader ship) to reduce prices. however in some markets price reduction do not work, in this case you have to go for product differentiation and uniqueness. a company can go for product differentiation if it has the following: 1- your skills and your R&D must be able to do it 2-you must have enough financial resources 3-there should be proper laws so that your competitors would not be able to copy your product and you get enough time to skim the market. both of these situations can be describe by the following diagram

Mission:
A mission is the purpose of the existence of a business, it is a statement of the purpose for a business that distinguishes it from other similar businesses. a mission statement is the most important document for a business, all the activities and strategies a business depends/are derived from its mission statement. An ideal mission statement is consistent of the following components.

1-customer:
Mission statement should clearly describe the targeted customer for whom the business is operating/is going to operate. understanding of the economical class, demography and other characteristics of the target customer helps to create best value for them.

2- Product/services:
Te second most important component of the mission statement is the nature of you market offering.your product should be according to the needs and wants of your target customers.

3- Market:
A perfect mission should also describe the geographical boundaries of the market, remember, it is not possible from day first that you will reach the whole target market, you will increase your reach gradually.

4- Philosophy:
philosophy is the Sprite behind your business, it defines that What are the basic beliefs, values, aspirations, and ethical priorities of the firm.

5-Self-Concept:
What is the firms distinctive competence or major competitive advantage, it describes the firms core business.

6-concern for servinal/growth or profit:

what is the firms concerns, Is the firm committed to growth and financial soundness? this component provides answer to this question.

7- concern for public image:

this component describes the firms responsiveness to the customer and society. It creates the in turn the image of firm in public. it includes concern for public opinion and post purchase behavior.

8- concern for employees:

this describes whether firm value its employees or not. employees are the most important resource for any company. the firm should take care of them from their recruitment till retirement. it should provide them effective remuneration rewards, social and job security and healthy working environment

9- technology:
the last component of the mission statement is technology, it describes the firms production process and methodology.