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 planning as a control system in United Kingdom nationalized industries

Since the late 1960s some U.K. nationalized industries have undertaken corporate planning as a means of exercising control. In the early 1970s, the U.K. Government, on the advice of one of its select committees, required that all U.K. nationalized industries undertake corporate planning. This requirement has been reinforced through a White Paper in 1978, in which the government reiterated that it saw corporate planning as a major instrument of control both for the nationalized industries themselves, and also for government in its relationships with the industries.This paper examines the development of corporate planning in nationalized industries. The findings are based on research carried out since 1976 in which discussions have taken place with corporate planners in most of the major U.K. nationalized industries. The method followed was to send planners a structured questionnaire covering the field of enquiry, and to follow this by an interview (or interviews) at a high level which would allow further discussion, particularly on the issues seen as important to the organization. The questionnaire was subsequently completed in consultation with the people concerned.     

Japanese marketing strategies in the United Kingdom

This article is based on a study which examined hypotheses about Japanese marketing using a matched sample of British companies and their major Japanese competitors. Japanese subsidiaries in Britain were shown to be much more marketing-oriented, more responsive to strategic opportunities, and more single-minded in their pursuit of market share. Organizationally, there were few differences between the two groups. The Japanese subsidiaries, however, were more inclined to use product or market-based divisions and continuous, informal planning and control procedures. The result is that managerial focus and responsibility are centred upon overall product-market rather than financial or production performance, with continuous feedback facilitating rapid adaptation and implementation of marketing plans and strategy.     

National planning in the United States

This paper is concerned with the relatively new interest in national planning in the United States. The effects of the Arab oil embargo and price increases, impending scarcities of minerals, inflation, unemployment, and other problems seem to be reversing the American public's negative views of planning by the Federal government. Assuming that negative sentiments are still strong and aware of the difficulty of institutional change, the authors submit a modest proposal for initiating a formal system of indicative national planning.The proposal is based upon an analysis of the economic challenges facing the United States and the apparent inability of the Federal government to respond effectively to change. The solution is seen as the need for an economic intelligence activity coupled to the formulation of ‘inventories of policy alternatives’, with a minimum of structural change or expansion in governmental structure.The recent Humphrey-Javits proposal for national planning is discussed briefly and critically.     

Three energy scenarios for the United Kingdom

The general principles of constructing scenarios and using them to explore policy options have been described in an earlier paper¹. This paper summarizes the results of a preliminary examination of the three scenarios described there and referred to as ‘business-as-usual’, ‘technical-fix’ and ‘low-growth’. The investigation departs from conventional discussions of fuel policy in that it emphasizes the management of fuel demand, and the interaction between fuel demand and life-style, rather than emphasizing fuel supply policies. The relationship between life style and fuel demand can be quantified using the methods of energy analysis.² This method is capable of fine disaggregation and relatively high accuracy. However the aim of the studies reported here was to establish the range of feasible options and the types of policies needed to accomplish them. For this purpose high accuracy is not important so considerable data aggregation has been retained. The detailed analyses presented in this paper are estimated to be accurate to ±15 per cent.The first part of the paper sets out the analysis of the base year (1968) on which the future projections are based. This involves explaining the principles of energy analysis and the method of projection used. The next sections examine the three scenarios in some detail, starting with the estimation of fuel demand and then looking at the fuel supply and management policies needed.     

Regional planning regulation in the United States

The relationship between the public—and private sectors of any ‘mixed’ economy, and the means necessary to develop an ‘appropriate’ relationship for the particular social/political environment, continue to be questions of major significance for all economies. This article examines one aspect of this problem, the management of regulatory commissions in the United States.     

A new industrial strategy for the United Kingdom

Today Britain is at a crossroads in terms of industrial strategy. Its relative share of world trade in manufactured goods has declined; the pound has dropped steadily over these past years; productivity in Britain has not increased; the country is heavily over-taxed from the point of view of personal taxation; legislation and general attitudes, combined with the current recession, have caused corporate profits to be depressed to a dangerously low level, thus discouraging risk-taking investment.However, although there are weaknesses arising from attitudes, there are also inherent strengths which Britain itself and her critics tend to overlook. This paper will attempt to correct misapprehensions and put the situation into its proper perspective.     

The application of dynamic programming in United Kingdom companies

Dynamic Programming (or DP as it is commonly known) is a mathematical programming method which would appear to be a very powerful technique for use in management decision problems. A great number of theoretical texts have been written on the mathematics of DP and a few articles have been published on the more practical aspects, but DP has remained very much on the theoretical shelf as far as practising management has been concerned. This paper gives the results of a survey carried out at the beginning of 1972 and is intended to provide some insight into the use of DP in real management problems in U.K. companies and to show what sort of problems are apparently restricting its use. The findings demonstrate that several firms have used DP in various applications with considerable success. There are also some enlightening comments on the difficulties involved, and on the future potential of DP in industry.     

Formal strategic planning in the United States today.

The author sets out an appraisal of the state of corporate-strategic planning in the United States. He deals with the chronology of planning development before appraising the 'state of the art'. The appraisal utilizes the author's own set of criteria which are comprehensive and provide a framework against which individuals and companies can assess their own systems. The author deals in some detail with the nature of planning systems in different types of organization and provides valuable insight into the current state of strategic planning and a useful framework for critical analysis.     

The dangers of centralized economic planning

There is little evidence that there is much value in riveting attention on the question of strategic planning in an era of low growth or negative growth. Rather, there is value in discussing strategic planning in terms of the efficient realization of society's goals— whether expressed as economic goals or as non-economic aspirations. This article contains some observations on corporate strategic planning, provides perspective on the energy and materials scarcity question, and warns that detailed economic planning by government thwarts the optimal use of resources to improve living conditions for everyone. The author holds that renewed government reliance upon the workings of a competitive market economy is indispensable for achieving this goal.     

Long range planning in large United States banks

This study indicated that there is considerable interest in formal strategic long range corporate planning among large U.S. banks. Officers in a total of 97 large U.S. banks provided information on their bank's efforts in the area of long range planning for this study. The data indicated that the percentage of large U.S. banks with fully developed and operational long range planning systems is rapidly increasing. Information on the organization for long range bank planning and the administrative procedures being utilized are presented and discussed. In addition, information on problems that the bankers are experiencing in implementing and operating their long range planning systems are presented.     

Harassment at the Workplace: A Practical Review of the Laws in the United Kingdom and the United States of America

Harassment is a major deterrent for productivity, loyalty, and commitment to one’s job and organization. Unfortunately, many employees tend to experience various forms of harassment in the workplace. The focus in this article is to understand the extent to which the law protects a person from harassment, first based on the explication and application laws in the United Kingdom. The article then provides comparative discussion of laws and practices against workplace harassment in the United States. A major objective of this article is to help employers and managers become more expert in preventing and correcting harassment.     

Comparisons in Gender Wage Differentials and Discrimination between Germany and the United Kingdom

Due to the lack of consistent data, direct and robust comparisons of cross‐country labour markets have been virtually impossible. This study uses a new panel data series that controls for inconsistencies, thus overcoming this problem. This study estimates gender wage differentials and gender discrimination in the German and UK labour markets. Panel estimates are used to identify general wage differences between the two countries, with cross‐sectional comparisons undertaken to identify changes that have occurred between 1991 and 1993, that are consistent with known labour market policies. It is found that gender wage differentials are greater in the UK than Germany with employer discrimination against females attributed with the majority of the difference in both countries.     

Effect of economic planning on business decisions

The fact that the United States has not faced an economic perplexity of current dimensions since the depression days hardly needs any emphasis. The current economic slowdown is significant because no recovery measures which may be applied to cure the economy are in sight. Since the Great Depression, especially after World War II, Keynes' economic theories have successfully been applied in the U.S., as also in other countries of the Free World, to put the economy back on path to recovery. Unfortunately, Keynesian measures do not seem to cope with the current economic woes. Apparently, new ways need to be sought and employed to get the economy back on track. Among many new ideas that have been advanced to restore economic growth, one is national economic planning by which the Government would play an active role in setting goals for the economy and devising means to reach them.The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study that the author undertook to probe the opinions of chief executive officers of the largest U.S. corporations on the whole idea of national economic planning in the United States. This study is based on interviews with 23 chief executives officers (CEOs) in different industries. Table 1 shows the background of these CEOs. Specifically, the author refers to such questions as: What positive and negative attitudes do the chief executive officers maintain toward national economic planning; what difficulties do they think will have to be surmounted to accomplish national economic planning in the U.S.; what influence may national economic planning have on various business decisions; and how may national economic planning affect corporate strategy?     

Rising Earnings Inequality and Returns to Skills in the United Kingdom Labour Market*

Abstract. Since the later 1970s, earnings inequality in the United Kingdom has been rising steadily. It is argued that this rise reflects increasing returns to skills, as proxied by factors like education and occupation, while the strengthening labour market position of relatively skilled workers was also reflected in improving relative unemployment and labour force participation rates. These trends are best explained by a rise in the relative demand for skilled labour, implying that the most efficient way of restraining earnings inequality growth is through vigorous educational policies.     

The Rise and Fall of a Regulator: Adventure Sports in the United Kingdom

Following a tragic accident in 1993 involving the deaths of teenagers while kayaking a new regulatory regime was imposed upon some adventure sports providers in the United Kingdom. In particular, a new regulatory body, the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA), was established to oversee the sector. Yet in 2010, a government‐sponsored review recommended that AALA be abolished and this recommendation has been quickly accepted by government. This article explores the background to these developments through documentation, interviews with those affected by the AALA regime, and court cases. Evidence reported here, perhaps surprising, is that AALA itself is seen in a very positive light by many, even those it regulates. What may have happened is that AALA became caught up in a wider debate about the place and management of risk in life beyond the workplace, which has been simmering in the United Kingdom for a decade or more, and of which it fell foul. It may also be that adventure sports, because they entail voluntary engagement with high consequence hazards, starkly expose serious questions about the application of conventional, factory‐originated risk assessment approaches to life in general.     

Managing in uncertain economic times: The case for planning

The traditional organization format in most firms has been to separate production, marketing and distribution and accept a certain amount of friction at the interface of these functions. The price of this friction and the risks inherent in its acceptance make this an increasingly unattractive organizational alternative. New organizational structures that forecast, monitor and control materials flow between raw materials and customers in a systems context are required for intrafirm response and implementation to the challenges of a rapidly changing business environment. The article emphasizes these conclusions against the backcloth of a shortage aconomy.