After designing a strategy for your small business, you will need to track whether your desired results occurred as expected. Strategic controls help you do this by analyzing your company and its ability to maximize its strengths and opportunities. The four types of strategic control are premise control, implementation control, special alert control and strategic surveillance. Each one provides a different perspective and method of analysis to maximize the effectiveness of your business strategy.

Premise Control

Your business strategy is based on an assumed premise of how things will occur in the future. Premise controls allow you to examine whether this assumption still holds true once you actually put your ideas into action. Premises may be affected by environmental factors such as inflation, interest rates and social changes or by industry factors such as competitors, suppliers and barriers to entry. These controls will help you recognize changes in the premise so you can adapt your strategy accordingly.

Implementation Control

Once you design a strategy for your business, you will need to implement it. As you take the steps necessary to put your plan into action, use implementation controls to ensure no adjustments to your strategy are necessary. Two basic types of implementation controls are monitoring strategic thrusts and doing milestone reviews. The former means you analyze the tactics you're using to gain market share. The latter allows you to conduct a full-scale assessment of your business at designated points in your strategy.

Special Alert Control

You will need mechanisms in place to assess the position of your business in the case of sudden events, such as natural disasters, product recalls or market spikes. Special alert controls allow you to reconsider the relevancy of your strategy in light of these new events. Prepare how you will handle these special alerts with procedures to be followed, priorities to keep and tools to be used.

Strategic Surveillance Controls

As a small-business owner, you need to protect your business from external threats that may hinder the success of your strategy. Strategic surveillance controls allow you to monitor multiple sources for these threats. Continually safeguard your strategy by following trade journals, attending conferences and keeping awareness of industry trends to meet these risks as they arise.