The role of strategic planning in small business

One of the important reasons for the tremendous interest in corporate strategy and strategic planning is that managers realize that a good strategy greatly increases the likelihood of a firm's success. Strategic planning is not the only reason for success, but there have been several studies which show that firms that plan their strategies are more effective. Taking the relationship of strategy and success as given, this paper considers the need to develop strategic planning for small businesses, and summarizes the findings of a recent survey on strategy of small businesses.Sixty-two minority and 58 non-minority small businesses were studied in this survey. A Likert-type questionnaire was used for the study. The survey indicates that the small businessmen fail, cope, and learn in the struggle for survival. Judgment, experience and intuition seem to play a more important role than any well structured technique of strategic planning. The businessmen were found to be ‘growth maniacs’, since growth may be the most tangible manifestation of achievement. The study leads to the conclusion that efforts should be made to improve the planning knowledge of this vital sector of economy.     

The components of strategic planning

What is the current level of strategic planning in the United States? What objectives are quantified in the strategic plans? What kinds of environmental factors are identified in the planning process? What areas are planned for? How often are the strategic plans reviewed? These are among the questions which were raised in a recent survey of 323 companies whose results are summarized in this paper. It is hoped that this study will permit practitioners to compare their planning with planning being performed in their industry.Suggested improvements in the stategic planning process include more frequent monitoring of performance against the plans, more comprehensive environmental surveillance, and greater emphasis on organizational structure plans. The strategic planning process was found to be constantly evolving and cyclical. The strategic planning activity expanded during adversity and contracted when business prospects were good.     

The state of private sector strategic planning in Canada

This paper examines Canadian strategic planning expertise from a number of different aspects. It evaluates the relative sophistication of Canadian and American management consultants and points out that the U.S. expertise is still particularly good and preferred. It is perhaps a pertinent comment that the view of many is that ‘The U.S. people have … defined their products in such a way as clients can use them’. Analysis of the stimuli for strategic planning is an appropriate focus, particularly since it concludes that it is rare that a visionary cheif executive is responsible! Most companies appear to pursue strategic planning through fear rather than enlightenment. The quality of input to the planning process varies widely, with extrapolation from the past a major preoccupation. There appears to be a lack of environmental analysis. The author analyses a number of important issues and concludes that a bolder embrace of strategic planning would serve Canadian management well in responding to the extensive challenge facing their country's economy in the next 10 years.     

Financial issues in strategic planning

In this article the author considers a variety of financial issues which have an important bearing on strategic planning. Mr. Zettergren develops a financial model in the article with the objectives of making it easy to comprehend yet detailed enough to account for most pertinent factors.     

Corporate strategic planning in practice

Practical approaches have now been developed for use in corporate strategic planning. These methods can be applied to any type and size of business organization anywhere.     

Using strategic planning to drive strategic change

This article describes a case history of strategic planning, learning and change within a major division of Dowty plc. At Dowty CASE, a telecommunications company, the management team used strategic planning as a structured learning process to generate strategic change. There are many lessons which academics and practitioners alike can learn from this case of strategic planning and change in action.     

The hazards of strategic planning for global markets

Global strategic marketing planning has emerged as a key process in managing today's worldwide marketplace. This survey of 90 large American global corporations reveals that most are bottom-up planners. US firms appear to have distinct cost and numbers orientations. Industry and competitive analyses are used in many companies, although managers appear to lack suitable frameworks for SWOT analyses. Economic climate changes tend to be most disruptive to global planning efforts. When faced with non-achievement of goals, most firms reformulate both objectives and strategies.     

Computer assisted strategic planning

This paper describes a representative, sectionalized, computer assisted strategic planning system, as developed and used by the authors. It suggests that the future direction of such programmes—with several already in use—is toward the development of approaches which combine simulation and linear programming to simultaneously address long and short-term objectives.     

Horizons for strategic planning

In this paper we present a normative model for setting time horizons for planning. Provided that certain conditions are met, we can state that only part of the future is relevant for present strategic planning, and a study of the future beyond that time horizons is a waste of resources.Following the introduction the impact of predetermined planning horizon on planning is discussed. Next, the model is presented: the problem is defined, developed and solved. The discussion of the model is designed to incorporate—and to show its implication on—existing views and methods for setting time horizons for strategic planning. Thus, simplifying assumptions which facilitate the mathematical solution of the problem, are discussed and relaxed in order to show how realistic situations are illuminated by the model.     

The use of strategic planning techniques in the United Kingdom

In this paper some of the techniques available for strategic planning are reviewed. Four techniques are presented, the experience curve, the growth-share matrix, the directional policy matrix and the PIMS program. The results of a survey into the use of these techniques in the United Kingdom are also presented.     

Corporate strategic planning in a university

This paper reviews the relevance of key constituents in modern corporate strategic planning to policy determination in universities. The emphasis is on corporate policy making at the level of the individual institution, not the universities or higher education as a whole. From the outset it is assumed that a university has a measure of autonomy within a wider negotiated environment of which the universities, as a group, are a sector for negotiating purposes. There are therefore important elements in the working of any university that are bound not only by general laws and customs but by specific standard policies, practices and conditions applicable to all universities within a country, e.g. salary and wage-scales.First the environment of universities is examined to ascertain the relevance of such an approach to their problems before passing to an appreciation of their unique features in terms of decision-taking and adaptability. Only in the light of this survey is an attempt then made to concentrate on the particular issues which a university may have to resolve and to which such longer term planning can make a contribution.Inevitably this paper is coloured by the experiences and observations of the author when involved in two U.K. institutions that have undergone rapid growth and change at a pace previously unprecedented in the history of higher education in the United Kingdom. This experience has been shared by many universities and replicated in other higher educational institutions such as polytechnics.     

A national strategic planning model

Can nations choose among several possible futures, or is the future pre-determined on the basis of geographic, demographic, cultural, economic and political features? The author maintains that newly developing patterns may well change the traditional deterministic characteristics of society, and that it is possible for nations to be masters of their own future. This will depend on the development of sophisticated and democratic national planning processes.     

Creative strategic planning using imagery

Strategic planning is often dominated by left-brain thinking which emphasizes rational, analytical techniques. Imagery is a technique which has been widely applied in other disciplines such as sports, medicine, learning and counselling, which can be used by planners to enhance more right-brain thinking. The technique is especially useful for creative thinking in scenario building and goal setting. This paper reviews the technique, explains how it has been used in other fields, and how it can be used to enhance planning.     

Prediction and practice in multinational strategic planning

The author of this article argues that the models which have been put forward relating to the strategic planning process in multinational companies are inadequate. Nevertheless that the organizational structures and control systems adopted by companies have allowed them to cope to some degree, the advent of the regional headquarters having played a significant role in this process where inter-regional trading is limited.The emergence of global strategies seems to be progressing at a substantial pace.     

Assessing the effectiveness of strategic planning

This paper describes a method for assessing the effectiveness of strategic planning systems in terms of the results actually observed subsequent to planning activity. The paper explains in particular how, in making the assessment, one might cope with the fact of environmental change subsequent to the setting of planned goals. This ends oriented approach to measuring effectiveness is shown to be complementary to process oriented approaches and is illustrated by an example from the coal industry.     

The federal government as a source of strategic planning information

The United States Government is one of the richest sources for strategic planning information. Nearly every law enacted and every regulation proposed are accompanied by hearings and studies and written reports that provide useful information for planners regarding customers, competitors, suppliers, unions and other special interest groups.The author suggests how the Congress and its committees and the regulatory commissions and other agencies that affect regulation can be structured into various classes that will allow their study to be included in external environmental scanning systems.     

Developing a planning culture for more effective strategic planning

The literature of long-range planning is replete with justifications of the need for strategic planning and admonitions concerning its critical importance. However, both the literature of planning and its practice, as manifested in a variety of organizations as diverse as industrial firms, educational systems and law enforcement agencies, are deficient in specifying proven techniques and methodologies for marshalling organizational resources to effectively implement strategic planning.Over a period of years, the authors have consulted with a variety of business organizations and public agencies in the development and implementation of long-range planning processes. From this work has come an empirically-tested conclusion that the success of long-range planning in an organization is less sensitive to the parameters of the planning techniques that it is to the overall culture within which the planning is accomplished. Since most of the non-pontifical literature of planning focuses on planning techniques and specifications for planning processes, these conclusions suggest a critical void in planning methodology.     

A review of analytical models in strategic planning

Strategic management is a process that deals with the entrepreneurial work of the organisation, with organisational renewal and growth, and more particularly, with developing and utilising the strategy which is to guide the organisation's operations. Strategic management approaches emphasise the processes of strategic decision-making and adaptation to change. The paper reviews the literature to date and the modern strategic management paradigm and examines strategy formulation from an analytic perspective.