Standard 1: Strategic Planning

I. Rationale
The standard on strategic planning is presented first because AACSB-accredited
schools view a robust strategic plan as fundamental to the successful AACSBaccredited
business school. It is one of the first documents reviewed by the peer review
team to identify the school's mission, what its goals are, how it intends to achieve those
goals, and how leadership will allocate resources to meet the school's goals.

II. Clarifying Guidance
AACSB is not prescriptive in the form of the plan, and the standards are not intended to
provide one particular template. Schools are free to use any one of a variety of differing
forms of strategic plans; however, there are essential elements found in most robust
strategic plans.

Some elements of a robust strategic plan for AACSB standards purposes may include a
mission statement; strategic initiatives, goals, objectives, and key performance indicators;
a discussion of how the school intends to make a positive societal impact; risk
assessment and contingency planning; how the plan is monitored; and how key
stakeholders are meaningfully involved. Strategic plans should be regularly monitored by
the school, and key stakeholders should be involved in this process.

Mission
A mission statement is not usually described entirely by one statement alone; rather, it is
a set of statements that describe the school and its mission, vision, and values. These
ideas, taken together, express the school’s mission and define its core identity, values,
stakeholders, and aspirations.
The mission statement or supporting set of statements normally include the primary
purpose and focus of the school, the types of degrees offered, characteristics of students
served, and the school's focus with respect to the production of intellectual contributions.

Strategic Initiatives
As a necessary component of strategic planning, the school should identify what it seeks
to achieve in both the near and the far term, with such time horizons identified by the
school. For example, a school may have a short-range strategic plan, supplemented with
a broader set of goals it would like to achieve in a longer period of time. Strategic
initiatives describe what the school intends to pursue, and consequently allocate
resources to, on a strategic basis. These initiatives answer what the school intends to do
above and beyond its normal operational goals, which are not generally included in a
strategic plan, although the school may choose to supplement the strategic plan with an
operating plan.
Examples of strategic initiatives include such ideas as creating or expanding new
programs or new target markets, seeking strategic partnerships, building or expanding
facilities, creating interdisciplinary programs, seeking to build a particular area of thought
leadership or higher profile, etc. Activities such as routine hiring of faculty and staff,
maintenance of programs, ongoing maintenance of the school’s budget, and student
recruitment and enrollment management are normally considered operational, as they
relate to the day-to-day routine in which all business schools participate. While
operational activities are generally not included in the school’s strategic plan, at times
these routine activities may rise to the level of being strategic in nature when there is a
definite strategic element. For example, an enrollment growth target of two percent
annually may be routine, or, an enrollment growth that will be achieved by recruiting
students from underserved communities could be considered strategic. The line between
operational and strategic activities usually depends on whether activities are considered
routine and ongoing versus above and beyond normal for the school.

Goals, Objectives, Tactics, and Key Performance Indicators
Each strategic initiative should be supported by one or more goals and accompanying
objectives that identify the expected outcomes related to that strategic initiative.
While goals are broad statements that identify what the school wants to achieve,
objectives are the specific and measurable components that describe how the school will
achieve that goal. AACSB does not prescribe the number of objectives that correspond to
a specific goal, but by way of guidance, we note that it is common to see two to four
objectives for each goal. A school may have more or fewer as appropriate for their
purposes. Goals should be specific and measurable. In comparison, tactics are usually
embedded under objectives and identify specific activities that will be undertaken in
support of a given objective. Tactics can be thought of as the action items necessary to
meet objectives. Key performance indicators are metrics that a school identifies to gauge
their progress towards meeting their goals. While the school may actually track a large
number of metrics, key performance indicators are by definition a smaller number of
metrics that the school uses to determine if they are on track strategically.
Societal Impact
The school should be specific in its desired societal impact, how it is monitored, and
how progress is measured. Societal impact can be defined at the level consistent with
the school's mission and resources. That is, some schools will have goals to improve
their local communities, some will have goals to impact the business community, and
others will have goals to make an international impact on society. The key is for the
school to align its activities with its mission.
Contingency Planning
Many schools find themselves in difficult financial or environmental circumstances for
which they have no training or planning. Some examples include a sudden drop in
enrollment, a significant budget cut, or numerous other issues that could threaten the
reputation, brand, or financial viability of the school. A good strategic plan contains risks
and threat assessments and plans for how the effects of events would be mitigated.
Contingency planning also relates to succession planning. This becomes even more
important with faculties that have low turnover and for which a large number of faculty
vacancies may occur within a short time. Additionally, as a best practice the school
should integrate succession planning into their strategic plan.
Monitoring
The school should actively and regularly monitor and measure its progress toward
achieving its strategic initiatives, goals, and objectives. Often this monitoring is done as
part of a school's yearly summary of activities. The peer review team will generally
review evidence that the school is using its plan to guide decision making within the
school and to ensure that the plan is regularly reviewed and updated as necessary,
including the mission statement and all other components.

Stakeholder Involvement
An important component of a well-devised strategic plan is that key stakeholder
involvement is demonstrated at every stage of the process, from the creation of the
strategic plan to regular review, ideally at least annually, and reporting of progress
toward achieving goals explicated within the plan. Shared governance in this area is
particularly important, and faculty play an integral role at all stages. A plan that is
devised solely with administrative input is not in keeping with the spirit of the standards.
Other key stakeholders normally included in strategic planning include students,
representatives from the business community, advisory boards, key university
representatives where there are explicit connections and/or support provided to the
business school, and alumni. Within the broader university environment, it is important
that the accredited school's strategic plan aligns with and supports the university’s or
parent organization's plan.

III. Example
The example below demonstrates the relationship between strategic initiatives, goals,
objectives, and tactics typical of a school's strategic plan. This is not intended to be a
template, but rather one example that might be used effectively within a school.