The state of strategic planning: What went wrong? What goes right?

After a heyday in the 1970s, strategic planning flagged in popularity. Disillusionment among many executives about the results of strategic planning, together with the recessions of the early 1980s, led to the decimation of many corporate planning staffs. However, the need for systematic, comprehensive, and long-term planning still exists. This analysis examines why strategic planning failed and discusses new approaches to strategic management that are designed to avoid past problems. It derives from a presentation to The Greater St. Louis Planning Forum in April 1988.