Search results

An analysis of both form and content differences between the plans named “strategic” and those named “long‐range”. Planning theory is checked against the planning reports available on the Web pages of 65 public and university libraries. The goal is to see whether the differences that some theorists observe between strategic and long‐range planning actually exist on plans published with those names.

This article is concerned with four major propositions: 1) The next major thrust in long‐range planning will come in the public sector, and is a thrust long overdue. 2) Over the past two decades we have significantly improved corporate planning in the private sector. We still have much to learn, but compared with the early efforts we are now high on the learning curve. 3) The fundamental lessons we have learned in the private sector in doing comprehensive long‐range planning are applicable to the introduction, development, and success of aggregate integrated long‐range planning in the public sector. 4) It is imperative that a dialogue begin immediately between practitioners of long‐range planning in the private sector and those in the public sector who are directly involved in the development of this process. Both groups have much to learn from each other, but it is particularly important that those in the public sector be exposed to the first‐hand experience of those in the private sector.

How can a company strike the right balance among strategy, long‐range planning, and day‐to‐day decision making? According to the authors, both long‐ and short‐range planning must be coordinated to effectively implement corporate strategy.

Though long range planning has saturated our corporate environment, it does not guarantee success. Rather, it is to strategic planning that the company must turn if it is to survive and flourish.

Long‐range planning is really a phenomenon of the Eighties in South Korea. Historically, the concept was introduced in the mid Sixties, influenced by the country's first five‐year economic development plan, which began in 1962. However, planning was not naturalized until the Seventies. The impetus arose when:

The Nature of Business Policy Business policy — or general management — is concerned with the following six major functions:

The tools and techniques of strategic planning are being increasingly used in many parts of the world. Suggests that, although the planners in Bahrain appear to have limited awareness, there is a clear need for them to become more familiar with various tools and techniques to enhance their planning ability. Reports on recent research into the use of ten of the most common planning techniques: SWOT analysis, the product life cycle, the experience curve, the growth‐share matrix (BCG), the directional policy matrix, the PIMS study, gap analysis, perceptual mapping, financial analysis and SPACE analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to study whether organisations, in this case libraries, continue to plan after having done so at least once, and whether they conduct planning on a routine basis.

The websites of 71 libraries, that in 2006 had a strategic or long-term plan, were analysed to determine whether in 2016 they had a new plan in place. Where there was none or where the name of the plan had changed, e-mails were sent to the head librarian to ascertain the reasons.

A total of 71.83 per cent of the libraries in the sample had a new plan underway in October 2016, i.e., ten years later. A significant rise (+8.03 per cent) in the number of three-year plans was observed relative to 2006, perhaps because the crisis and resulting uncertainty have induced libraries to narrow their decision-making windows. A preference for the term “strategic plan”: over “long-range plan” was also detected in 2016.

The study provides empirical evidence of the existence of routine planning. The continuity of plans in a series of libraries shows that in practice planning is a systematic, continuous and iterative activity, as contended in planning theory.

Introduces and delineates the concept of strategic planning maturities. It thus represents a small addition to the total body of knowledge underlying the strategic planning process. Uses a conceptual model to explicate the dynamic interrelationship between planning horizons and strategic planning maturities. Theoretical applications and real‐world applications link the concept of strategic planning maturities to successful and unsuccessful strategic decisions actually made by top management in a cross‐section of large organizations.