Once this Goal has been set and the organisation is given the task to make it happen, i think BAs, particluarly in a consulting role, can effectively work with executive mangement and make a real contirbution to the organisation to help ensure the solutions expolred do indeed meet these goals.

What you describe above isn’t “strategic planning” in the sense that I have seen the term used. Strategic planning occurs at the level of the business as a whole and entails setting the overall goal for that business over a multi-year timeframe. It asks what markets we want to be in, what our pricing or branding will be in those markets, what kind of market share we expect to have, what products we will develop, and so forth.

What you’re talking about is at a lower level–once the strategic goals are set, a BA can work with the business to explore various solution options to meet those goals. That is covered in the Enterprise Analysis KA.

I think that BA, like IA or EA or any other two-letter acronym, can be strategic or tactical. The only rule of thumb is that the influence (and the billing rate!) increases as the engagement moves from tactical to strategic.

Best regards, Andrew