bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The who, what and why of zero‐base budgeting
Authors: Franklin Sharp J.
Published: February 2008

What's behind the great interest in zero‐base budgeting (ZBB)? Why has ZBB been adopted so quickly—often uncritically—by so many companies and governmental units?
Nortons top‐down, bottom‐up planning process
Authors: Cushman Robert
Published: February 2008

Eight years ago when I examined the corporate planning process at the Norton Company, I had one major complaint—the wrong people were doing the job. Possibly no one else sees the same problem, but ever since then, I have asked managers in other companies how their planning is organized and how it operates. At this point, I must conclude there are some very well‐known companies that have ineffective systems, for the same reason that I felt ours was ineffective then.
Of Kings, compromise and least common denominators
Authors: Weiner Edith
Published: February 2008

Once, one of King Solomon's soldiers presented to him an infant and two women, each claiming to be the child's mother. “Which of you,” asked the wise king, “is the true mother of this child?” “I am,” they both answered. Solomon stroked his beard, thought awhile, and said, “We shall have to compromise. I will have the baby sliced in two, and I will give each of you half.” “Good idea,” said one of the women. “Oh, sir, please don't do that,” wailed the other, “I'd rather you give the baby to this other woman.” Because of her concern, Solomon assumed the woman to be the rightful mother, and, giving the whole infant to her, he banished the woman who would have had the child divided, and thus ends the tale.
War games for the board room
Authors: Zentner Rene
Published: February 2008

A scenario is “a synopsis of a dramatic plot of a drama dealing with certain aspects of the future. The plot is based on a current condition and depicts potential actions and events in likely order of development.” It is an extraordinarily flexible device. It is an extrapolation of future events or trends based on either current conditions, or variations and changes in current conditions, or on new conditions arbitrarily imposed as a means of assessing their impact.
Chicken and egg: Management and planning
Authors: Kastens Merritt L.
Published: February 2008

This article has been derived from a chapter in a forthcoming book by Mr. Kastens, Redefining the Manager's Job, scheduled for publication in September.
The debate over productivity: A rational examination
Authors: Thackray John
Published: February 2008

National and international productivity puzzles are too abstract and ineffable for the practical businessman to contemplate usefully. But there is at least one way to bring the problem down to earth, and that's through an analysis and understanding of productivity variances between and within different industries and firms. Given this groundwork, the strategist and planner can then begin to study the interaction of all the different factors that bear on productivity—labor, capital, energy, technology, entrepreneurship, etc.
Congress, corporations, and crystal balls: New partnership for the future?
Authors: Renfro William L.
Published: February 2008

Corporations pour heart and soul — and other equally scarce resources — into talking to the Congress about current legislative proposals. The Congress, in turn, does its share of talking back to corporations. But, while all this talking continues, there is one area about which both Congress and corporations need to do some listening: the future.
What every planner should know about people
Authors: Binstock Jeanne
Published: February 2008

When people encounter some new piece of technology or a new product, or even a new variation of an old one — toilets, telephones, higher education, computers, drugs, television, the pill — they not only think differently, but feel differently and act accordingly. Technology slowly alters their perceptions, expectations, motives, and adaptive strategies in systematic ways. The problem is determining what is happening to alter those strategies, how they are being altered, and how fast alteration is occurring.
Recession who gets hurt?
Authors: Schoeffler Sidney
Published: February 2008

Faced with the threat of recession, as the nation was in 1979 and 1980, it is wise to consider the contingencies. If you are producing the kind of product or serving the kinds of market that are immune to a national economic slowdown, so much the better. Suppose, however, that your product or market is vulnerable, as will often be true. How badly can you expect to get hurt? What actions can you take to minimize the damage?
The role of planning in the marketing Of new oroducts
Authors: Peters Michael P.
Published: February 2008

The need for product planning an inherent part of long term business planning is the development of new products and services. Its importance has been particularly evidenced during the 1970s, a decade of increased challenges for business executives. The 1980s will serve as a further test of the ability of corporate executives to successfully generate, develop and market new products and services within the context of a changing complex environment. In particular, management must be concerned in product planning with changes in consumer tastes and at‐cultural life style changes, competition, government and economic changes.
A strategic approach to productivity management
Authors: Gale Bradley T.
Published: February 2008

Crushing productivity problems are causing U.S. industries great discomfort. Newspapers and magazines allude to these problems every day. In many industries, hoping to quickly improve lagging productivity, management has taken rapid strides towards re‐industrialization.
The traveling planner south of the border
Authors: Brown James K.
Published: February 2008

In many U.S. firms, strategic planning has evolved from the buzz‐word phase to an integral part of the management process. How fares it elsewhere? And how do foreign executives, for whom English is at best a second tongue, grapple with our planning concepts and terminology? Here is one man's tentative answers to these questions for three south‐of‐the border countries.
The crocodile in the bedroom
Authors: Lobel Arnold
Published: February 2008

A crocodile became increasingly fond of the wallpaper in his bedroom. He stared at it for hours and hours.
Editorial
Authors: Davis William F.
Published: February 2008

Planning Review reported recently that 90% of American companies have failed in implementing effective corporate strategies. The causes of failure are no doubt manifold, but it is clear that more failures result from an ineffective planning system, or the lack of acceptance of a planning system, rather than from faulty application of good planning principles.
Strategic planning in the 1980's — coping with complex external forces
Authors: Harvey Hegarty W.
Published: February 2008

The demands placed on the business community from the external environment during the past decade have already become legendary. Increased government controls have taken place in almost all developed countries. Overthrow of governments has been all too frequent in LDC's. Consumerism, a moderate problem for businessmen in the '60s, exploded in the '70s. University communities world‐wide were not particularly more active in the '70s, but they became more effective in their protests. As usual, the media reported the confrontations with a flare to sell stories — rarely was business pictured in a favorable light.
Communicating your strategic plan
Authors: Rule Erik G.
Published: February 2008

A $1.5 billion manufacturing company spent over eighteen months and countless man‐years of effort methodically hammering out a strategic plan for its domestic and international operations. The new corporate strategy called for a significiant shift in priorities. There was to be a substantial product innovation in maturing markets and marketing and sales activities which were new to the manufacturing oriented company. After two years, the senior management team was frustrated by the lack of progress in implementing the plan. The CEO commented, “The organization is just not responding to the new strategy.”
Michael E. Porter speaks on strategy
Authors: Pennington Malcolm W. , Cohen Steve M.
Published: February 2008

Michael Porter, considered by corporate managers and business analysts to be one of strategic planning's leading theorists, is a professor of business policy at the Harvard Business School. Author of the recent bestseller Competitive Strategy and guest columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Professor Porter is noted for his heady stock of insightful planning theories. Here, in an interview conducted by Planning Review Senior Editor Malcolm W. Pennington and Managing Editor Steve M. Cohen, Professor Porter candidly discusses his entry into the field of strategic planning and the application of his theories to specific industries.
A model for identifying political risk
Authors: Pearson Conrad E.
Published: February 2008

Pity the corporate planner of a major multi‐national who, at the peak of his frustration, exclaims: “I wish our company could get expropriated in Brazil!” Many years ago, when the company first decided to invest in Brazil, the decision makers realized that the company might face certain political risks. But the company took a simplistic view of political risk, as it was often equated with expropriation, against which the company could be insured. Political risk was not thought of again until price controls allowed only a low‐level of return on investment. The corporate planners and operating managers had done nothing to plan for price controls. The probability of expropriation remains low, but the book value of the company's Brazilian assets now is so reduced that the corporation could not hope for much relief from insurance even if expropriation did occur.
A new strategy does not always demand a new structure
Authors: Nichols‐Manning Cathy
Published: February 2008

For years, organizational theorists and management consultants have been exhorting their clients to develop a clearer understanding of the values derived from reorganization by forcing executives to ask themselves: “Organize to do what?” What is more, this expression has, in recent years, become the motto of corporate organizational theory.
For G.E., planning crowned with success
Authors: Cohen Steve M.
Published: February 2008

Innovation remains the catchword at General Electric Co., but the means of its achievement depend not only on developing new products or services, it depends also on a plan. As the company passes $27 billion in sales and $1.5 billion in earnings, G.E.'s widely publicized strategic‐planning system has led the company to invest in everything from ultrasonic cardiac scanners to high‐technology robots and information systems. Planning Review asked Steve M. Cohen, a Review contributing editor, to talk about G.E.'s strategy with William E. Rothschild, staff executive for corporate planning development. Excerpts from their discussion follow.
Managing the personality puzzle
Authors: Keegan Warren J.
Published: February 2008

Because management is the “art of the possible,” managers need to understand themselves and workers who are charged with carrying out plans. Seemingly, there is a lot of assistance available; indeed, the make‐up of the successful manager is the focus today of a vast educational, consulting and publishing establishment.
Visionary management
Authors: Glenn Martha A. , Lynch Dudley , Mendell Jay S.
Published: February 2008

In the past decade, rapid developments in the brain sciences have helped educators understand in plain terms the prolific areas of the mind that are routinely ignored in a business context.
The business of executive development
Authors: Baiardi Peter M.
Published: February 2008

The demands placed on business and managers from an ever‐changing environment have transformed the once sleepy professional seminar business into a $2‐billion‐a‐year industry.
Reaganomics, the business cycle and planning
Authors: Dixon Frederick T.
Published: February 2008

Forecasting has never been easy, but recently it has become a nightmare. The onslaught of new monetary and fiscal policy prescriptions has outrun both the economist's and planner's ability to interpret them. Indeed, the tasks of setting business objectives and screening alternative strategies becomes more difficult, as there no longer exists a clear understanding of long‐term market conditions.
Planning at Bata
Authors: Bata Thomas J.
Published: February 2008

How well multinationals will perform in the 1980s depends on what extent they utilize the technological, marketing and intellectual capabilities of the countries in which they operate. Such internationalization of management and the participation of foreign subsidiaries in manufacturing, marketing and product integration have marked the growth of the Toronto‐based Bata Shoe Organization since its founding in Zlin, Czechoslovakia in 1894. Today Bata operates 190 plants in 100 countries, and its roughly 90,000 employees speak more than 140 languages and dialects. Last year the company sold over 300 million pairs of shoes, or one‐third of all the shoes produced in the free world.
New tools for corporate planners
Authors: Howard John A.
Published: February 2008

In 1960 I approached a Gulf vice president in charge of marketing to service stations in four states to cooperate in a study of pricing. His reply was quick and honest: “I don't know how I do what I do, and I don't think you can find out. But I will be happy to cooperate.” Within six months, with his help, I was able to construct a pricing model. If we knew his facts and used the model, we could predict with almost perfect accuracy what price he would set. Further, his intuitive procedures were highly imaginative, and we doubted that any economist could improve them.
The strategic environmental matrix: A concept on trial
Authors: Peter P. Pekar. Peter P. Pekar.
Published: February 2008

A metamorphosis is taking place in strategic planning. Indicative of the change is the number of recent planning articles appearing in Fortune and the Financial Times of London highlighting the long‐standing complaint of many businessmen that tools such as the experience curve and portfolio matrix, while of some value to a company assessing its portfolio and those of its competitors, provide no more than one element of a more fully developed competitive model.
International risk: Six questions for the concerned executive
Authors: Laurie Donald L.
Published: February 2008

French President Mitterrand's decision to nationalize companies in targeted industries, President Reagan's recent ban on the sale of U.S.‐licensed pipeline equipment to Russia and losses resulting from the Iranian revolution make clear the importance of understanding the linkage between business decisions and political events. Yet many executives are unsure of how to manage a situation that not only encourages good government relations but also recognizes possible consequences of association with a controversial regime should the government be overthrown.
The Falklands War: A setback for north‐south relations
Authors: van Dam André
Published: February 2008

The war between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands, while triggering a shock wave that reached into the far comers of the international business community, will do much to deepen the rift in Latin America's friendship with Argentina, a country that the U.S. hoped would someday join in its efforts to check advances made by the Soviet Union in the region. Thus, when Argentina invaded the islands in April, the U.S. was thrust into the awkward position of relations with Western Europe and North America. The predicted strain in North‐South dialogue comes though at a time when many countries, including France, Canada and Holland, publicly acknowledge that political and economic stability in Latin America is vital to both European and American long‐term political and economic interests.
Megamorphosis
Authors: Naisbitt John
Published: February 2008

THE U.S. is in the midst of a fundamental restructuring of its economy and society. Traditional tools and methods of measurement and forecasting are increasingly inadequate for charting the new course. Business needs to create, build, and develop industries and technologies for the future, but without carelessly abandoning the investments and commitments of today.
Planning for profitability in the 1980S
Authors: Malernee James K.
Published: February 2008

Decreasing profitability, plus expectations of rapidly escalating capital and operating costs have forced management to reconsider the trade‐off between growth and company value. Esmark, RCA, GAF Corporation, and U.S. Industries recently confronted this issue and opted for major divestment strategies.
Seismic shock threatens the global village
Authors: Thackray John
Published: February 2008

The foreign relations of corporations — the business of direct investment or trade — have never been as unstable or as complex as today. Looking back at the 1960s and 1970s, we see a halcyon period when the entire global economy was more comprehensible and consistent. But that underlying orderliness is gone now and, accordingly, corporations are finding their international strategies and plans harder to formulate and to trust. There are at least three broad streams of this new instability, fed by many tributary causes. One, the end of the pax Americana. Two, chronic recession and stagflation. Three, the interdependence of worldwide production and consumption in the West. In other words, our world has shrunk into what Buckminster Fuller called the “global village.”
Political forecast for international business
Authors: Coplin William D. , O'Leary Michael K.
Published: February 2008

Continued global recession, weak demand for raw materials, mounting international debt, and the reduction in lending from international banks during the past twelve months will exacerbate political risks during 1983 and beyond. Many governments—especially those in Third World countries—will be wrestling with the opposing strains of trying to satisfy internal consumer demands while at the same time trying to conform to the austere expectations of private and public lending sources. In democratic countries, this means lowered chances for the reelection of those now in power. However, more seriously, in countries where political turmoil is a tradition, there will very likely be an escalation of violence.
Bootstrap advice for mature industries
Authors: Gold Bela
Published: February 2008

An overview despite more than thirty years of intermittent fanfares proclaiming the onset of the postindustrial society, our manufacturing industries are still the basic driving force of our economy. Their growth has been one of the dominant sources of our rising standards of living as well as of our nation's expanding influence in international affairs since the beginning of this century. Both of these achievements would be seriously undermined by a failure to maintain the competitive strength of this critical sector of our economy through continued vigorous development. Therefore, confronting the threats to these industries from abroad and establishing the means of dealing with them effectively must become a national priority.
Has financial leverage gone too far?
Authors: Hergert Michael J.
Published: February 2008

Corporate growth and how to finance it are issues fundamental to business strategy. Starting in the mid‐1960s, many firms issued bonds and borrowed heavily to fuel their growth. At the time, this method of creating capital offered numerous potential benefits, including improved returns to shareholders and lower average costs of capital. However, as the economy began to enter a volatile period of increased competition and skyrocketing interest rates, many firms began to feel the first symptoms of overindulgence in debt. Yet, despite these warning symptoms, the trend toward higher leverage and declining interest‐expense‐coverage ratios continued clear through the 1970s. Only with the financial crunch of the 1980s bringing the well‐publicized problems of Braniff, Chrysler, and International Harvester before us as cautionary tales, have corporate strategists begun to ask themselves: Has financial leverage gone too far?
A director's viewpoint: An interview with Peter G. Scotese
Authors: Klemmer Raymond J. , McLaughlin Charles
Published: February 2008

Peter G. Scotese, now chairman of the executive committee of Springs Industries, learned about planning chiefly by doing it. Successively a salesman, sales manager, and general manager early in his career, he got actively into planning in the 1960s, when he became the chief executive officer of the Boston Store division of Federated Department Stores in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1969, he joined Springs Mills, now Springs Industries, as the first non‐family president in the company's history. In the mid‐1970s, he became vice‐chairman and chief executive officer. When he retired from active management in April 1982, he had become a confirmed and practiced planner, and he conducted a thorough search for his successor, Walter Y. Elisha. After Scotese's 12 years with the firm, Springs' sales had tripled and earnings from continuing operations had quadrupled. Among the other companies on whose boards he sits today, are Bell & Howell, Armstrong Rubber, National Distillers, and the Dry Dock Savings Bank.
An electronic “Back of the Envelope” A simple model for considering financial alternatives
Authors: Lawless Mark J.
Published: February 2008

In the course of forecasting and planning, as well as evaluating business alternatives, planners ultimately have to face the overall impact of their decisions on a company's financial profile. Most businesses focus on their balance sheets (capital structure) and several key financial ratios that point up their financial performance and well‐being. Since investment is a significant element of many business decisions, there is usually concern with the cost of capital. Given this, it seemed that a simple model for evaluating the potential importance of business decisions might offer an efficient and consistent way of determining financial outcomes. And since capital structure, financial ratios, and cost of capital don't function independently of each other, this model would need to take account of appropriate linkages.
The economy near term: An imperiled recovery
Authors: Chimerine Lawrence
Published: February 2008

Overview the present economic recovery is now about nine months old and is likely to continue for the remainder of 1983 and into 1984, although the rate of recovery will slow considerably from recent months. Thus, despite the sharp growth rate during the second quarter of 1983, the recovery is likely to be relatively moderate. The outlook for 1984 and beyond depends principally on interest rates—any significant rebound in rates above present levels would likely slow or stop the recovery within six months despite the fact that most of the other underlying forces remain favorable for continued recovery. In my judgment, preventing higher interest rates, and in fact, encouraging somewhat lower rates, will require further adjustments in the administration's policy mix. This should include additional expenditure cuts and tax increases designed to reduce future deficits as well as a continued accommodative monetary policy.
Technology company strategy: Growth or profitability?
Authors: McLagan Donald
Published: February 2008

Nowhere in industry is the trade‐off between profitability and growth more critical than in high technology companies. In an embryonic company, market acceptance of a new technology fires growth. Before long the company's success begins to be noticed by others, competitors enter, and the battle for market share begins. Then comes the problem of making pricing decisions—should the new company price for profit or for market penetration? And this is where current economic uncertainty forces new technology companies to make difficult strategic decisions.
Resistance to planning
Authors: Kallman Ernest A. , Reinharth Leon , Jack Shapiro H.
Published: February 2008

Any planner who tries to begin the planning process in a company speedily runs into negative attitudes, excuses, and foot dragging. This problem is so prevalent that one of the major tasks of a corporate planner is to understand this resistance and to find successful countermeasures. These countermeasures require planning knowledge, courage, a knowledge of psychology, and last but certainly not least, the ability to win top management support.
Evaluating consulting proposals: The planner's role
Authors: Roekard Karen G.R.
Published: February 2008

Corporations spend more than $3 billion a year on management consultants. While they state publicly that, “the impartiality and expertise of the consultants proved to be very helpful,” privately, their comments tend to be very different: “The consultants were expensive and told us nothing we didn't already know.” “We hired consultants for their expertise and they sent us green MBAs.”
Predicting unitary tax legislation: A case study of political analysis
Authors: Coplin William D. , O'Leary Michael K.
Published: February 2008

In the November 1983 issue of Planning Review, the authors suggested that corporate planners could benefit from systematic political analysis. Two of our readers accepted the challenge and applied the authors' model to a question of direct concern to them: Would the state of Florida repeal the unitary tax legislation it passed in June 1983?
Multiple image forecasting
Authors: Yelsey Alan A.
Published: February 2008

Business forecasters are generally adept at creating the single‐scenario numerical forecasts most commonly used in corporations. However, we rarely produce a useful overall picture of our company's performance.
Capitalizing on information in the public domain
Authors: Fella James W.
Published: February 2008

Whats my business going to be doing in the next quarter? What market problems or opportunities will I have to face? What will the business environment be like in the future? What's my chief competitor's strategy?
The case of the disappearing planner
Authors: Reinharth Leon , Russie Daniel W.
Published: February 2008

Since the scientific study of management began more than a hundred years ago, planning has been acknowledged to be one of the principle functions of managers. It seems hard to remember now, but it wasn't until after the Second World War that the planning function was given over to specialists. Today, most management takes it for granted that the planning staff controls the planning function.
Technology: A challenge to planners
Authors: Abetti Pier A.
Published: February 2008

Technology planning presents a unique challenge to planners. First, because until technology achieves patents and proprietary know how, it offers high risk and low value. And second, because technology management is to business management what rodeos are to ranching. In fact, John Thackray's recent Planning Review article (July 1983) concluded that technology cannot be managed, and therefore, cannot be planned.
Strategizing for a spectrum of possibilities
Authors: Badler Gerard
Published: February 2008

Establishing planning process that can cope with a variety of futures requires a solid knowledge of universal givens. You need to know how to position a business to be successful regardless of the growth rate of its market or the pressures of inflation.
The winning performance of midsized growth companies
Authors: Clifford Donald K. , Cavanagh Richard E.
Published: February 2008

This two‐year inquiry was commissioned by the American Business Conference (ABC) and conducted by McKinsey & Company, Inc., to explain how and why certain midsized growth companies have outpaced the nation in sales, profits, jobs, and exports. The study is based on an extensive literature search, several large data bases (PIMS, Compustat, and Dun & Bradstreet), and a survey. However, it was some sixty informal in‐depth interviews with ABC members—in some cases founders and always current leaders—that provided most of the unconventional and provocative insights.
Profitable divesting
Authors: Copulsky William
Published: February 2008

The management of a diversified corporation needs to be able to recognize new opportunities for profitable growth. And it also needs to know when one of its businesses is no longer compatible with long‐range growth plans. The symptoms may be a short‐term or long‐term lack of profit, a lack of fit, a need for cash, or a business with volatile year‐to‐year earnings that make it unattractive to Wall Street. However, once divestment comes into the picture, the first thing management needs to consider is, can the unit be sold without materially affecting its continuing lines of business.
Eight half‐truths of strategic planning: A fresh look
Authors: Ramanujam Vasudevan , Venkatraman N.
Published: February 2008

For some time now, the business press has been sounding the death knell of strategic planning. Introduced in the mid‐Fifties, formal and comprehensive approaches to strategic planning have gone through a number of evolutionary changes. Beginning with simple, internally oriented annual budgets, they quickly developed into long‐term, externally focused strategic planning systems. Today's sophisticated strategic management systems now combine internal and external analysis into a holistic system. However, these transitions have never been adequately supported by a strong theoretical base distilled from practice.
Milestones for managing technological innovation
Authors: Abetti Pier A.
Published: February 2008

The process of technological innovation must be planned and managed to improve the pay‐off for the firm, and to reduce the relatively high risk of failure—nine out often innovations fail their return on investment test. Technological innovation needs careful management through the four stages of the process, which also includes the successful completion of the three milestones (see Figure 1).
Stock price: Strategies to mobilize undervalued assets
Authors: Mitchell Donald W. , Bernstein Marc L.
Published: February 2008

A majority of the country's top executives believe their companies are undervalued by the equity markets, according to a recent Louis Harris and Associates, Inc., survey. And more than 20 percent of the 600 respondents thought their company's stock price was “seriously” below its true value. Yet, despite obvious concern, few corporations have implemented any systematic program to raise their stock price. Consistent increases in earning are no guarantee of growth in market value, while low prices make a firm takeover bait.
Xerox's productivity plan is worth copying
Authors: Kearns David T.
Published: February 2008

Our business entered the 1980s bloated with too many workers and wrapped in too many layers of management for the proper supervision of workers. That's hardly a formula for productivity.
Continental Groups postmortem
Authors: Davidson Mike
Published: February 2008

Continental Group's brief epic bout of restructuring did not deter a takeover. Diverse views of the complex story are presented: First, the analysis of the corporation's planning consultant, Mike Davidson; the CEO makes his case to a forum of security analysts; and analysts and the financial press render their judgment.
Macroeconomic forecasting: Science or voodoo?
Authors: Arthur Smith A.
Published: February 2008

Macroeconomics has an important role to play in understanding the forces at work in the world today, and how they can be harnessed to meet national as well as industrial economic goals. Mr. Smith sorts out popular macroeconomic theories into schools, explains their forecasting limitations, and highlights a few public issues where the media and policymakers tend to want answers instead of forecasts.
The 1985 political climate for international business: A forecast of risk in 82 countries
Authors: Coplin William D. , O'Leary Michael K.
Published: February 2008

Worldwide political and economic risks to business will continue through 1985, partly as a result of domestic political and economic conditions and partly because of regional and global trends. We have based our forecasts on the following global assumptions:
R.J. Reynolds' growth plan: Where there's smoke there's opportunity
Authors: Tylee Wilson J.
Published: February 2008

Planning was not always a major consideration at R. J. Reynolds. Ten years ago RJR, like most companies, had very little formal planning. However, since we first opened our doors as a small tobacco business in 1875, we've grown dramatically, becoming a somewhat curious assortment of related and unrelated businesses.
Putting a new face on Avon
Authors: Waldron Hicks
Published: February 2008

“Planning a Turnaround at Avon” was the case study in the January issue of Planning Review. John Thackray's article analyzed Avon's new plan for Beauty Products, its largest division, accounting for three‐quarters of its sales. This follow‐up is based on the presentation by Hicks B. Waldron, chairman and chief executive officer of Avon Products, Inc., of the corporate plan to security analysts in New York on March 20. The analysts' reactions to the plan, excerpted from their reports to clients, are inter‐spersed throughout Waldron's report.
A letter from the President
Authors: Lerman Ronald L.
Published: February 2008

Businesses today require more and better planning and more and better strategies than ever before. Yet, as some of us are painfully aware, planning departments, at least in many major organizations, are getting smaller and smaller. Some of this cut in department size can be attributed to the sophisticated new software that has replaced manual number crunching and forecasting. However, much of the cutback is related to management's increasing demand that line managers take over part of the planners' job. Nowadays line managers are expected to think and act strategically and fully understand how their operations “fit” the company's global plan. This requires the development of strategic management skills and thought processes normally associated with planners, planning departments, and staff functions.
Strategic management hits its stride
Authors: Allen Michael G.
Published: February 2008

Strategic management—the infusion of strategic principles in the running of a business—has demonstrated impressive power by dramatically improving the performance of a number of major companies that implemented it. (See Exhibit 1.) This concept, born in the early Seventies, is now experiencing the adolescent struggles of what Gail Sheehy, the author of Passages, calls, “gaining authenticity” and “ego strength.” Now, an era of self assurance, authority and leadership is at hand.
Corporate I.D.
Authors: Schanck J. Thomas
Published: February 2008

Why is Signode, a privately held company, making a sizeable investment in corporate identity advertisements in major business magazines, mounting a business press publicity program through one of the nation's largest public relations agencies, publishing slick annual reports, and cultivating key security analysts?
Orchestrating planning creativity
Authors: Bandrowski James F.
Published: February 2008

While corporate executives have long realized that the ultimate goal of strategic planning is to forge a competitive advantage that will produce superior profits, only in recent years have strategic planners recognized the urgency for creative approaches to the development of strategy.
Software tools for planning: DSS and AI/expert systems
Authors: Briggs Warren
Published: February 2008

Important new tools are now available to planning professionals and their information systems support staff. These new tools create both opportunities and hazards—including the hazard of overlooking an opportunity for competitive advantage. The problem is that, while changes in price and performance are happening so fast that rapid obsolescence of equipment and software is inevitable, the costs of frequent replacement must be weighted against the cost of missed opportunities.
Industrial product life cycle analysis
Authors: Short Tracy K.
Published: February 2008

Market, product, and organizational dynamics can be explained, in both quantitative and qualitative terms by a product life cycle graph. This analysis can provide an historical synopsis of important strategic decisions, including those of the competition. It can show how external factors lead to the success or failure of a specific strategy. And it can be used as a benchmark in determining future marketing actions and in monitoring success. Life cycle analysis gives an industrial company a very important record of marketing and strategy achievements—and a very potent competitive weapon as well.
Alternative managerial responses to ethical dilemmas
Authors: Nielsen Richard P.
Published: February 2008

What can and should we do as managers when our sense of personal morality is at odds with our organization's strategic thrust? There are essentially seven types of strategic responses based on game theory, philosophy, and everyday pragmatics: Avoid thinking about it; obey; leave; conscientiously object; secretly go outside the company to the press or government; publicly go outside the company to the press or government; or negotiate and build a consensus for a change in strategic management. The seven case studies below offer examples of each of these choices.
China: The risks of modernization
Authors: Coplin William D. , O'Leary Michael K.
Published: February 2008

China is second only to the Soviet Union and Canada in land area, but its mountains, steep hills, cold plateaus, and deserts greatly limit the amount of arable land. Most of China's natural resources either lie in the interior where no modern transportation is available, or are unexploited because of the lack of capital and technical capability. In recent years the official estimate of oil reserves, both inland and offshore, has been optimistic. Some believe that China's oil reserves almost equal Saudi Arabia's. However, recent explorations involving a number of Western companies in the South China Sea have fallen short of expectations.
Strategy valuation in portfolio planning: Combining Q and VROI ratios
Authors: Reimann Bernard C.
Published: February 2008

The major objective of any business organization should be to create value for its stockholders or owners. If the stock of a publicly held corporation does not provide its shareholders with a return that increases their wealth, that corporation is not meeting its most fundamental obligation.
Changing the economic mechanism in the Soviet Union
Authors: Naylor Thomas H.
Published: February 2008

Two views of trade prospects with the Soviet Union are offered in this article and a companion study by Messers Coplin and O'Leary, Prof. Naylor is guardedly optimistic, while his brother Soviet watchers are guardedly pessimistic. Moscow has wooed Naylor with private meetings, and he has firsthand experience with this new willingness on the part of the Soviets to be forthright about discussing the problems and future of their system. Coplin and O'Leary are professional power analysts who see Gorbachev's stage as a cramped place with little or no room for fancy fandangos with U.S. business. But both the optimists and pessimists are intrigued by the sparks of change they see flying in the Russian wind.
The U.S.S.R.: Don't expect wheeling and dealing
Authors: Coplin William D. , O'Leary Michael K.
Published: February 2008

President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's rise to power in the U.S.S.R. represents a transition from the old guard to the younger party leaders. However, his regime is based on a collective leadership that will undertake only modest reforms. There is little likelihood that either a more reformist or a more hard‐line regime will come to power in the next five years. No major opening to international business is likely, but some liberalization of imports may occur if domestic economic conditions improve.
Succession planning
Authors: Tolstoy Leo
Published: February 2008

A raven built his nest on an island, and when his young were hatched he began carrying them from the island to the mainland. He took the first one up in his claws and flew with him across the sea.
Doers as planners
Authors: Reimann Bernard C.
Published: February 2008

Strategic management gives an organization the power to “create its own future.” This was the gist of H. Igor Ansoff's message to management more than two decades ago. Yet, in spite of the obvious appeal of this idea, few, if any modern companies have been able to realize the full benefits of true strategic management.
Planning at aAtlantic Richfield
Authors: Rees David
Published: February 2008

In May 1986, the Planning Forum's Southern California Chapter presented its Award for Excellence in Strategic Management and Planning to Robert E. Wycoff, the fifty‐five‐year‐old president and chief operating officer of Atlantic Richfield Co. Arco is the twelfth largest industrial corporation in the United States, based on 1985 revenues of $22.5 billion. The Chapter's selection committee picked Arco out of a field of a hundred companies, comparing them against a list of criteria that included: commitment to planning, the company's planning system, and the results of that planning.
Cultures and competitive strategies: Highlights of the 1986 Strategic Management Society Conference
Authors: Reimann Bernard C.
Published: February 2008

The Strategic Management Society attracted 450 participants to its annual conference in October in exotic, bustling Singapore to explore the theme, “Cultures and Competitive Strategies.”
Restructuring the corporation
Authors: Spencer Parker Herbert
Published: February 2008

On November 7, 1986, the metropolitan New York chapter of The Planning Forum presented a one‐day workshop on “Restructuring the Corporation—Why, What, and How.” Constance Bauman and Patricia Comer of the NY/NJ Port Authority organized the program.
Corning converts to strategic marketing
Authors: Daltas Arthur , McDonald Philip
Published: February 2008

This case illustrates some of the principles in the authors' article, “Barricades to Strategic Marketing Thinking,” which appeared in the January/February 1987 issue of Planning Review.
Practical competitor intelligence
Authors: Keiser Barbie E.
Published: February 2008

Many companies do their competitor analysis and intelligence work piece‐meal and ad hoc. Worse, this critical data is often gathered by untrained managers who have not been told what framework should be used to organize their analysis. Little wonder then that one hears so many complaints about duplication of effort, wasted time and resources, and frustration from those who perform these activities.
Benchmarking: The key to developing competitive advantage in mature markets
Authors: Furey Timothy R.
Published: February 2008

Many U. S. businesses face slower economic growth, increased foreign competition, and customers who are increasingly sensitive to price. As a result, a brilliant strategy is no longer enough to guarantee marketing success. Rather, U.S. corporations are increasingly focusing on developing an operational competitive advantage in R&D manufacturing, sales, and marketing. In response to this challenge, strategic planners at such corporations as Xerox, Ford, and GTE have begun to introduce a new planning tool called “benchmarking.”
The tricky business of measuring wealth
Authors: Gale Bradley T. , Swire Donald J.
Published: February 2008

An ancient management axiom holds that, “If it ain't measured, it ain't managed.” A more topical management axiom says, “The mission of business is to manage for increased shareholder value.” Putting ancient and topical together, we deduce that, “Unless wealth is measured, business is not performing its mission.” Many managers believe this. Therefore one might expect the measurement of wealth to be a routine exercise in business accounting. It is not.
Letters
Authors: Goldenberg David I.
Published: February 2008

Your leadership is needed to help strategic managers develop professional insight and critical judgment to replace unseemingly and/or desperate enthusiasm for unproven or novel strategic planning processes. The last two issues of Planning Review struck me as an abdication of that important duty.
Managing through storms of change: Highlights of the 1988 Planning Forum Conference
Authors: Reimann Bernard C.
Published: February 2008

Whether they're growing, downsizing, restructuring, or just trying to survive, today's organizations are struggling to sail through the “storms of change.” What's more, the management waters don't promise to be any smoother in the 1990s. So the stormy seas theme of this year's Planning Forum conference in San Francisco seemed most appropriate. In this review I will try to relate the insights from the sessions I attended to the theme of coping with change.
A strategic information system: Mckesson Drug Company's Economost
Authors: Clemons Eric K. , Row Michael
Published: February 2008

McKesson Drug Company's Economost— an electronic order entry system for wholesale drug distribution—is among the most widely cited examples of successful strategic information systems. We believe Economost produced revolutionary changes in the industry, which affected: The competitive position of the innovating firm, including its profitability and market share relative to its competitors; the industry as a whole, including profitability and concentration; suppliers; customers.
From “future perfect”: Mass customizing
Authors: Davis Stanley M.
Published: February 2008

Mass customizing is more than an intriguing oxymoron. It's one of the most provocative new ideas in marketing and could instigate changes in the way companies organize and plan.
“Getting value from strategic planning”: The conference board's 1989 strategic planning conference
Authors: Reimann Bernard C.
Published: February 2008

Last year's conference focused on the some of the ways in which corporate planning experts can add value to their line organizations. The theme was so well received that the conference planners decided to offer an encore this year. Once again I will approach this review essay from the perspective of a planning executive looking for new ways to add value to his or her firm.
From mass marketing to mass customization
Authors: Kotler Philip
Published: February 2008

This famous marketing guru tells how to create a differentiation strategy specifically for the mass market, segmented markets, micromarkets, and—the latest evolution—individual markets of just one customer.
Pricing and differentiation strategies
Authors: Stern Andrew A.
Published: February 2008

Differentiated pricing for every customer is a nifty strategy, but will it fly? Airlines divide the business folks from the tourists (the criteria being a reservation with a weekend day stay), and then price each seat accordingly.
The Manager's guide to strategic planning tools and techniques
Authors: Webster James L. , Reif William E. , Bracker Jeffrey S.
Published: February 2008

As more line managers are given primary responsibility for planning there is an urgent need to acquaint them with the spectrum of potent tools and techniques for developing and focusing strategy. This guide evaluates 30 established planning tools in terms of potential benefits and logistical requirements.
Discovering the patterns of chaos
Authors: Priesmeyer H. Richard , Baik Kibok
Published: February 2008

Chaos theory—the science that discovers order in nature's seeming randomness—may have utility as a corporate analysis technique. While it's too soon to predict whether chaos theory mathematics will become a new tool for decision makers, these researchers have made some provocative discoveries by analyzing 20 years of data for 19 publicly traded companies.
Implementing the vision: The lessons learned
Authors: Tregoe Benjamin B. , Zimmerman John W. , Smith Ronald A. , Tobia Peter M.
Published: February 2008

Field‐tested advice on coping with the common challenges facing companies attempting to develop a winning strategy.