A. The firm develops alternative or back-up missions in case the original mission fails:

Developing alternative or backup missions is undoubtedly an essential aspect of strategic planning. It involves creating contingency plans to address potential failure scenarios or changes in the external environment that could render the original mission less effective.

However, immediately after establishing the primary mission, the focus lies on aligning the different functional areas with the established mission rather than creating backup missions. The primary mission needs to be thoroughly understood and embraced across the organization before considering alternative missions.

B. The functional areas develop their functional area strategies:

Functional area strategies are critical for ensuring that different departments or units work cohesively towards achieving the overarching mission. However, developing these strategies comes after defining the specific missions for each functional area.

Once the overall mission is set, the next logical step is for individual departments to formulate their missions aligned with the overarching organizational mission. These departmental missions then serve as the foundation for developing functional area strategies.

D. The ten OM decision areas are prioritized:

Operations management (OM) decision areas are vital for effective operational planning and management. However, the prioritization of these decision areas doesn’t immediately follow the development of the organizational mission.

After the formulation of the overarching mission and the alignment of functional missions, the focus shifts towards operational planning, where the prioritization of the ten OM decision areas becomes relevant.

This step involves evaluating and determining which areas need immediate attention and resources based on the established missions and strategic goals.

E. Operational tactics are developed:

Developing operational tactics involves creating specific action plans and detailed steps to execute the strategies formulated based on the established missions. However, developing these tactics occurs after defining the strategies.

Strategies are derived from the missions set by different functional areas and aligned with the overall mission. Once these strategies are in place, operational tactics are developed to implement the strategies effectively.

In essence, the immediate post-mission development steps primarily revolve around ensuring alignment and synchronization within the organization by formulating supporting missions for each functional area.

This alignment ensures that the efforts and strategies of different departments are directed towards achieving the common organizational mission, setting the stage for subsequent strategic planning and operational execution.