Strategic planning aims to create alignment between which two elements?

Strategic planning is a process that organizations use to define their direction and make decisions about how to allocate resources in order to pursue that direction. The primary focus of this process is to create a clear alignment between an organization’s objectives—what it wants to achieve—and the resources available for achieving those objectives, including financial, human, and technological resources.

By ensuring that there is alignment between objectives and resources, an organization is better positioned to implement its strategies effectively. This alignment helps in identifying potential gaps that may exist between what the organization aims to achieve and what it currently has at its disposal, allowing for more informed decision-making and prioritization of initiatives.

In contrast, while market trends and employee expectations, costs and revenue, and product features and customer feedback may all play important roles in business strategy, they do not directly address the fundamental alignment of objectives with the necessary resources to achieve those objectives. This makes the alignment between objectives and resources the most critical aspect of strategic planning.