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In his article titled, “The theory of the business,” Peter Drucker suggests that organizations need to frequently challenge the assumptions underlying their theory of the business (TOB) in order to assure that it remains viable. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to introduce the repertory grid technique (RGT) and illustrate how it can be used as a strategic planning tool to surface the assumptions underlying an organization's TOB.

The RGT's merits as a planning tool are demonstrated through a case study involving the president of a Pittsburgh‐based financial services organization. Specifically, this case study describes how the RGT and the organization's competitors were used to surface the assumptions underlying the organization's TOB.

The paper describes how the assumptions surfaced from this case study can be used to challenge the organization's TOB. Furthermore, guidance is offered as to how the RGT can be integrated into an organization's strategic planning process and a list of resources that one can refer to for further information concerning the RGT is provided.

While the RGT has been used by scholars as a research tool and various authors have suggested that it can be used to address various organizational challenges (e.g., implementing a new system), no one to date has demonstrated its value as a strategic planning tool. Consequently, the paper is a valuable resource for practitioners, as well as academics and consultants who provide strategic planning services to organizations.

How familiar is the lament, “It wasn't our plans that went wrong, it was our underlying assumptions.” Each year, planners carefully integrate products, cost of goods sold, marketplace tactics, and earnings results into superbly constructed plans. Then the realization dawns that the whole structure was built on a base of false assumptions — or that major factors were completely missed. And suddenly the plans are worth less than the paper they're written on.

The purpose of this paper is to revisit and rationally reconstruct the role of planning, strategic management, and strategic balance, in a context of managing change. The general problem dealt with is: “When is it possible to design and manage a balanced strategic change process under conditions of rapid high‐frequency change?”

The paper revisits the development of strategic management and contains a rational reconstruction of core assumptions relevant to managing change. In the first section, the historical origin of strategic managements approach to change is rationally reconstructed. The next sections analyze and interpret core assumptions underlying the strategic management approach to planning and change. The next section explicate the conceptual strategic hierarchy showing that developments in strategy make theories of planning and control more abstract and complex, but nevertheless preserve the idea of planning and control as a demand for strategic balance. The last section inserts this discussion into a change management framework pointing to a practical paradox emerging and addressing a possible solution.

It is argued that a practical paradox emerges between the time horizon inscribed in concepts of strategic management and planning and the empirical demands to it under the pressures of high frequency change.

The paper directs attention to a new perspective on managing change as an experienced change/stability ratio, which may help dissolving the practical paradox managers faces in keeping up with strategy.

An overview of all the elements that go into formulating a business strategy – including received wisdom from the gurus, vision and values, ideas on growth, forecasting, information, objectives, audits, customers, markets, competition, finances, structure, training – with the focus on how to make it happen. Directed at practising managers whose task this is. Making strategic plans is the easy bit; enacting them requires changing things, getting things done through people. Discusses learning, training and development, culture, quality, with the emphasis on real people in real businesses. Underpinned by the philosophy of “action learning”.

Two and one half‐dimensional (2.5D) grid maps are useful for navigation in outdoor environment or on non‐flat surface. However, little attention has been given to how to find an optimal path in a 2.5D grid map. The purpose of this paper is to develop a path‐planning method in a 2.5D grid map, which aims to provide an efficient solution to robot path planning no matter whether the robot is equipped with the prior knowledge of the environment.

A 2.5D grid representation is proposed to model non‐flat surface for mobile robots. According to the graph extracted from the 2.5D grid map, an improved searching approach derived from A* algorithm is presented for the shortest path planning. With reasonable assumption, the approach is improved for the path planning in unknown environment.

It is confirmed by experiments that the proposed planning approach provide a solution to the problem of optimal path planning in 2.5 grid maps. Furthermore, the experiment results demonstrate that our 2.5D D* method leads to more efficient dynamic path planning for navigation in unknown environment.

This paper proposes a path‐planning approach in a 2.5D grid map which is used to represent a non‐flat surface. The approach is capable of efficient navigation no matter whether the global environmental information is available at the beginning of exploration.

This article focuses on the very sweeping changes which have affected the process of strategic planning since 1974. It describes why these changes came about, what they are, why they nearly led to a rejection of the whole concept of planning, and how management is now coping with them.

This article pinpoints 1974 as the watershed of the planning process in companies. Old methods of planning were discarded and new ones needed to be found as discontinuities rocked the business environment.

This paper considers Drucker's “theory of the business” as a management concept applicable to the challenging of firm performance. The paper seeks to do this by using the theoretical framework developed by Drucker as a tool to apply to organisation planning. In addition the paper aims to demonstrate the often “silent” but influential role assumptions have on organisations. Thus, the paper seeks to invite a reassessment of the role assumptions play in organisations and to present a new and topical perspective on Drucker's original “theory of the business” argument.

A close review of Drucker's “theory of the business” article is outlined and a range of recently published (1994‐2008) works on related subject matter is reviewed. It is argued that the “assumptive design framework” at the heart of the theory of the business has potential to act as a powerful planning and strategy tool for enterprises. In addition the review demonstrates the “silent” positive and negative influences business assumptions have on organisation and management practice.

As a general review the paper provides new knowledge about the practical potential of one of Peter Drucker's seminal published articles in an area largely untouched by business or management research. It illustrates how research employing Drucker's “theory of the business” concept in the context of assumptions in business can have major benefit for organisations, especially growth‐oriented businesses.

This is the first paper to address the empirical potential of Drucker's conceptualisation of the “theory of the business” and exposes a unique Drucker‐inspired business and planning proposition that has significant potential for business management, especially in turbulent times