Strategic alignment


Strategic alignment is the process and the result of linking an organization's structure and resources with its strategy and business environment Strategic alignment enables higher performance by optimizing the contributions of people, processes, and inputs to the realization of measurable objectives and, thus, minimizing waste and misdirection of effort and resources to unintended or unspecified purposes. In the modern, global business environment, strategic alignment should be viewed broadly as encompassing not only the human and other resources within any particular organization but also across organizations with complementary objectives.
"Strategic alignment" can also refer to a state in which a "company's business and product development strategies are aligned with its customers, users, and marketplace," leading to economic success.
In their May 2016 article in Harvard Business Review, Jonathan Trevor and Barry Varcoe explain that to test the strategic alignment within an organisation, it needs to positively answer 2 important questions:
  1. How well does your business strategy support the fulfillment of your company’s purpose?
  2. How well does your organization support the achievement of your business strategy?