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Strategic planning in all sectors of government is currently experiencing greater use. Strategic planning in the federal government, for example, is now mandated and the emphasis is on “managing for results” (Roberts, 2000). At the same time, capital budgeting in all sectors of government is also receiving greater attention because of the recognition of greater need for attention to funding infrastructure. In this study, the relationship between the municipal strategic plan and the capital budget and their effect on financial performance is examined. Based on the analysis, the strategic plan, when connected to the capital budget, was found to have a statistically significant effect on selected aspects of municipal financial performance. The findings for practitioners indicate that strategic planning and capital budgeting are a major influence on financial performance and that the combination of capital budgeting and strategic planning constitutes a strategic decision-making process.

The primary purpose of this study is to determine the status of human capital planning in higher education institutions in Jordan.

A random sample of 120 faculty members (in administrative positions) responded to a human capital planning (HCP) survey. The survey consisted of a pool of 38 items distributed over five dimensions (i.e. planning, analyzing, organizing, directing, and monitoring).

The results of the study indicate that based on participants' perceptions, the higher education institutions under study have a strong level of HCP. Examples of HCP include identifying sources of relevant employment and workforce data, establishing competency models, training internal talent, updating and ensuring the accuracy of all job descriptions, and establishing organizational learning practices that encourage employees to engage in lifelong learning. The results also indicate that there are no significant differences in assessing the status of human capital planning based on the gender of participants and their university affiliation. However, significant differences were detected based on type of position only on the planning and monitoring dimensions in favor of department chairs.

A number of theoretical and practical recommendations are suggested for the field of study.

Much research has been done into capital planning approaches on both sides of the Atlantic over several decades, but it has tended to be one‐dimensional – focusing almost exclusively on the application of financial appraisal techniques. Meanwhile little has been done to examine either the efficacy of other elements of the process or executives’ satisfaction with the way the process works. Members of Cranfield School of Management’s Centre for Business Performance, sponsored by Accenture, set the record straight with both literature and practitioner research into the capital planning process that also presents a new framework and develops best practice principles.

This article highlights key aspects of capital management, including capital planning, capital budgeting, capital financing, decision making and capital spending outcomes. We provide a background discussion of public sector capital management, followed by a summary of the articles that comprise this symposium. Combined, these articles illustrate the complexity of and challenges to capital management at the state and local government levels. We discuss common themes that emerge from reading these articles as a collective symposium, including: (1) modest progress in applying and empirically testing theoretical frameworks; (2) the variety of actors and institutions; and (3) the deteriorating condition and poor performance of public infrastructure. We use the articles to illustrate gaps in the research and offer suggestions for future research on capital management theory and practice.

I examine three recent cases where local governments changed their processes for selecting capital projects. The central question is whether these changes institutionalized a more “strategic” outlook in capital improvement planning and budgeting for these jurisdictions? The findings suggest that local governments can set capital priorities strategically, but that the process of implementing those reforms must be adaptable to changing political circumstances. These findings add to the limited literature on the political, administrative, and other challenges that local governments must confront when reforming their capital improvement planning and budgeting processes.

This study describes the Illinois State capital budget process and explains why traditional capital planning has not been adopted in Illinois. The state uses non-accounting techniques and multi-attribute judgment criteria, including political and social values, to make decisions. The case suggests that regardless of their sophistication, accounting methods are, relatively, not useful in ranking capital projects across functions. The methods compare "pples" and "oranges." A comparison of capital projects across functions may be impossible with any set of methods. Intelligent sub-optimization within given functions may be the best academics and practitioners can hope for in rationalizing project choice and maintenance, particularly in large cities or state governments. Public capital-budgeting educators might shift their focus in training prospective public budgeters, from accounting methods to critical thinking, through multi-attribute analysis methods.

Historically, citizen input into the capital budgeting planning and project selection process has been sporadic and often limited to the most politically-attentive, “connected” individuals and groups. The near-sightedness of such an approach has become apparent as the public’s cynicism toward government has intensified, along with its reticence to support bond referenda, and its propensity to file equity-oriented lawsuits criticizing capital project decisions. To combat these problems, local governments across the U.S. are broadening constituent involvement in their capital budget process, especially at the front-end where possible projects are identified and selected for inclusion in the capital improvement plan. This article examines the four major approaches that are being utilized: decentralizing public hearings; using community-wide public opinion surveys to gauge public support for various projects and revenue-raising options; expanding citizen access and input to, and feedback from, government interactive data bases; and creating more formalized roles for citizens on capital budget planning committees. Each of these approaches has its own assets and liabilities which are delineated.

Existing literature shows that marketing capabilities of new ventures are critical success factors affecting venture capital funding, startup performance and business failure. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether venture capitalists reward extensive marketing strategies in their startup valuation and whether the marketing mix planning and early strategies on customer orientation predict long-term development of startups.

To address these gaps, this study investigate 107 business plans of new ventures which received venture capital based on these planning documents. The authors use computer-aided text analysis and regression analyses.

This study’s findings show that customer orientation has positive effects on new venture performance and intensive marketing mix planning increases the likelihood of survival. However, venture capitalists decrease their startup valuation when they read too much about customer orientation and operative marketing mix planning.

This study relies on unique internal documents and therefore provides valuable and new insights for research and practice. Further, this study investigate various short- and long-term effects from marketing and customer orientation for a startups’ development.

To develop a more effective, long‐term‐oriented capital asset management process for capital project evaluation

Relying on a cash study format, the weaknesses of the traditional capital budgeting process are examined. The proposed capital asset management process is contrasted with the traditional process with respect to several aspects of long‐term resource management. Flow‐charts and evaluation matrices are presented.

The capital asset management process offers significant improvements over the traditional process. First, it links various functions that trigger capital requirements. Through an actual versus plan measurement, capital plans become more accurate and predictable. Forecasting beyond one year also enhances the planning and management of resources. Second, the process promotes a more accurate evaluation of costs and benefits of capital projects. The suggested evaluation techniques include detailed qualitative analysis, real option and EVA analyses, and applying project/division costs of capital in place of a company cost of capital.

The capital asset management process provides guidelines to justify and manage capital expenditures in a systematic manner for divisions and product lines within a company. For an effective application, the process should be established across all corporate levels so that top management and project managers have a clear understanding of the process and its importance with respect to a capital proposal's linkage to long‐term strategic goals.

This study provides a comprehensive overview of the traditional capital budgeting process based on an actual company case and presents key drives and evaluation techniques in the capital asset management process to effectively manage firms' long‐term capital assets.