The main objective of this paper is to investigate the link between theory and practice in strategic plans. The main question is, can we read strategic plans and discern their components based on the main subjects taught in strategic management courses? These areas include external and internal environment analysis, including functional strategies, and competitiveness and effectiveness in strategic plans. A four-step evaluation process is used in the questionnaire, following each of the three components and a final evaluation of the overall strategic plan. The paper also investigated the effect on strategic plan evaluations of five industries (banks, education, hotels, IT, and manufacturing) and two geographic areas or regions (regional and international). Data quality issues were considered through the process of data collection and analysis. Overall, the questions and components were consistently evaluated between 3 and 4, except for the IT industry, where the evaluation was slightly below 3. The internal environment is the most important part for both industry type and region. Overall, the elements in the strategic plans as selected from a textbook revealed that what we each do is actually practiced with limited exceptions.