Strategic Planning Achieving a strategic vision in an era of globalization and increasing competitiveness from rapidly emerging economies is complex and multidimensional in scope. The notion of including an ethical component may appear to be a luxury that some companies cannot afford, yet it is something expected by more and more stakeholders, as well as the general public. Achieving and sustaining a competitive advantage in an increasingly globalized marketplace demands that companies of all sizes and types take advantage of every opportunity to reduce costs and add value. For example, Sussan (2006) emphasizes that companies of all sizes and types require effective leadership in order to formulate a corporate vision and make informed day-to-day decisions. The need for leaders to integrate values and ethics in their decision making has been fueled, in part, by three global trends:

Successful leaders in all types of organization understand that ethics and values are paramount to decision making.

2. Governments...

Ethics is now stakeholder expected -- globally (Burke 1999, p. 530).
When dealing with an issue like a Human Rights Campaign, there is more to the issue of tactics and strategies than with many other organizations. Like any other organization, though, there must be a measurable outcome based on a benchmark, the ability to look at the past, present and future and decide a logical implementation schemata, and most especially when dealing with a non-profit organization, understanding that the stakeholders may be quite different and have different views, expectations and even tactics.

That being said, it seems that the heart of any strategic plan dealing with human rights must focus on the clear impact of behavior, values and ethics in achieving an organization's vision in a timely and optimal manner. Fortunately, there is a name and precedent for this -- often called Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)…