Planning for disasters

Although in Great Britain the risk of large scale natural disasters is less than in some other countries, there is an increasing risk of the type of catastrophe bred by the complexities of modern industry and by political unrest. The author makes no apology for quoting the Belfast experience at some length.While individual rescue services show a high level of efficiency there appears to be a need to improve the overall co-ordination of the community's response to disaster. Techniques of communication are often inadequate. The importance of rehearsal requires to be stressed.There may be a case for establishing a national committee to review the country's readiness and to give direction and advice.     

Planning for innovation

This article is based on a presentation given by the authors to the Society for Long Range Planning and reprinted from the NRDC Bulletin. It is concerned with corporate planning in the NRDC and illustrates the philosophy and approach adopted in planning for innovation in an organization whose work is of a longerterm nature than most companies.     

Planning for flexibility

This paper presents an approach to corporate development which relates the instability of the firm's environment and the ability of the firm to change. Using this framework, managers can examine their firm's posture vis-à-vis their environment and choose an appropriate strategy. The framework explains why firms can find themselves at odds with their environments, and suggest the lines of action that firms should pursue to survive and grow.     

Planning for productivity

In the 1980s the subject of productivity will receive increasing attention as the old macro economic policies are replaced by micro economic policies. Everyone in various ways will discover the changes which will be involved in learning the real economic facts of life. The need to improve productivity and business performance is urgent and yet it is an area which is being neglected by management.     

Planning for physical distribution

Traditionally under-managed and poorly represented in the decision taking hierarchy, the physical distribution function of many manufacturing companies has not been strong on long range planning. With its basic input, the plans of production and marketing activities, vulnerable to a host of fluctuating outside factors, and with the present economic situation making any kind of planning extremely difficult, planning for Physical Distribution activity must be cautious yet flexible in the coming decade.     

Planning for manufacturing technology

It is charged that many U.S. and European manufacturers have neglected to invest in new manufacturing technology. Consequently, these manufacturers have sacrificed their long-range competitiveness. This problem has occurred partly due to the lack of a normal planning process for investment in manufacturing technology that can alert managers to the need for the modernization of manufacturing technology before it is overdue.This article recommends the use of a new approach for manufacturing technology planning based on a process that monitors the deterioration of manufacturing technology over time.     

Planning for personal development

In this article Arne Poulsen summarizes his approach to long range planning. In 1975, owing to the recession in Denmark, there were 800 qualified engineers out of work. The Association of Danish Engineers commissioned Arne Poulsen to organize courses for them in Personal Planning and Development.He established a range of formal courses with follow-up group work. During the past 2 years over 500 engineers have attended these courses. The results have been encouraging: a substantial proportion of the participants have been able to find new jobs to re-plan their careers and adjust their life-styles.     

Planning for water resources

In this article the author describes some of the problems of planning for water resources, and the way in which the recently established Thames Water Authority has organized itself to deal with them. He demonstrates that water resource planning is involved with the whole of the water cycle, and is largely concerned with harnessing and controlling natural phenomena in situations of uncertainty.     

Planning for job creation

It is generally accepted that the future is uncertain and consequently structure plans must be monitored and revised, as necessary, to take account of changing cirsumstances. But the perspective taken both to the initial Plan, in its survey of the current scene and its likely trends, and to monitoring, is crucial. The present study presupposes that structure planning tends to be backward looking and gives insufficient attention to the potential changes in technology and society that could begin to develop during the plan period.     

Planning for increased productivity

The planning process in manufacturing industry is increasingly affected by the assessments which are made of human productivity, and a need to take account of the interplay between human needs and the demands of capital intensive and technologically controlled manufacturing environments. This paper examines a number of these aspects, and in particular those concerning the present and past relationship between Technology and Manufacturing. The study portrays the differing emphasis given by industries and countries to the allocation of the wealth produced by manufacturing, and in particular examines the possible problems which could be created by the increasing proportion of total value added being allocated to wages and salaries. The paper examines the possible ways of countering this trend, which could of course lead to inadequate resources being allocated to investment to sustain future growth. The article concludes by commenting on recent United Kingdom experience and in particular the use of incentive payment schemes based upon added value.     

Planning for job creation

Economic and technological change makes planning more important than ever. But a fundamentally different type of urban planning is now being called for. How people are employed is the most urgent and pressing problem to confront today's planners. The author analyzes the problem, confronts the mythical solutions and suggests how new types of planning might be used.     

Planning for strategic flexibility

In the last 10 years much has been written about the increasing environmental uncertainty firms and other organizations have to cope with. This uncertainty made it much more difficult to plan, since unexpected events often made them obsolete.Flexibility is frequently considered as a way to ‘solve’ the problem of environmental turbulence.In this article, based upon theoretical and empirical research, the author explores the concept of flexibility, puts forward some of his research findings, and advances some implications on how to increase strategic flexibility.     

Planning for business with China

The purpose of this article is to suggest planning approaches to the business opportunities offered by the People's Republic of China (hereafter “China”). It is directed to the company trying to determine its position with respect to China rather than to the company which has a product with impending sales prospects.     

Planning for pensions in inflation

The problem of pension planning under inflationary conditions is considered in this article. The author deals with a variety of aspects of the problem and concludes that under present conditions the amount of effective pension planning possible is minimal or extremely expensive.     

Planning for a professional association

Strategic planning for non-profit organizations presents special problems, both in concept and in application. The problems are particularly acute when the organization is a voluntary one, with highly heterogenous membership. This paper describes a multi-year effort to develop a member-needs based strategic long-range planning system for National Association of Realtors in the U.S.—a complex organization of 700,000 members, which combines the traditional functions of a trade association, an educational system, and of several professional societies. Problems, approach, and special techniques are described and discussed, with implications for senior managers and planners in both the public and private sector.     

Planning for better channel management

Manufacturers must modify with their channels of distribution to keep their products available in broadening and maturing markets. The authors of this article provide four broad guidelines to develop more effective relationships with channel partners.     

Strategic Information Systems Planning: Planning System Dimensions,Internal Coalignment,and Implications for Planning Effectiveness

Improving strategic information systems planning (SISP) remains a critical concern of both practitioners and academics. To date, a rather large number of studies have examined or proposed analytical techniques, frameworks, and tools for developing strategic plans. As a direct consequence of this emphasis, methodologies have often become the basis for characterizing the entire process of SISP within the information systems literature. Recent theoretical work suggests that such characterizations are unnecessarily narrow and that planning activities within organizations can be more accurately conceptualized as systems of behaviors, agendas, or process dimensions. Working within this contemporary theoretical perspective, the findings of this study suggest that SISP can be operationalized along distinct dimensions of comprehensiveness (extent of solution search), formalization (rules and procedures to guide activities), focus (creativity or control), flow (top down, bottom up), participation (number and variety of planners), and consistency (frequency of planning cycles). Similar to previous theoretical work and case studies, higher order factor modeling of these dimensions suggests that planning systems that exhibit aspects of rationality (high comprehensiveness, high formalization, control focus, top-down flow), and adaptation (high participation, high consistency) are positively associated with planning effectiveness.     

可持续发展的规划协调问题

可持续发展(Sustainable Development)概念反映了当今世界对发展的一种新模式的追求。对发展中国家来说,可持续发展的前提是发展,没有发展,就没有能力支持可持续发展。在可持续发展战略提出后,必然要有完整的战略规划,规划方案和实施规划以及相应的政策措施与之配合。由于可持续发展的多目标要求,出现在规划中的协调问题就显得非常重要。在本文中,针对协调问题中的困难,提出了处理协调问题的协调模式框架结构,并根据在研究环境管理规划以及社会、经济发展规划中的实践,对规划项目选择中的协调过程提出了一个框架。