CHAPTER ONE: Introduction
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Planning is an inescapable part of all rational human activity. Since business is one of those rational human activities, planning is of great importance to ensure efficiency in the discharge of business responsibilities. Apart from being one of the basic elements of management, planning has an aspect, which involves charting a sense of direction and purpose in the life of a business organization. This aspect is called. Corporate Planning. Planning as it sounds is a process in which a document known as “Plan” is produced. To implement that plan, the art of management comes into focus. And to achieve this at the corporate level, the issue of strategic management is addressed.
Corporate Planning and Strategic management are two managerial practices that ensure the continue existence and relevance of business organizations. According to John Thompson (1982), Corporate Planning was popular in the 1960s. This is due to the fact that the said period enjoyed economic stability and planners were able to convince both themselves and their directors that they could predict the future, several years ahead. Though, right by this assertion, they were however, proved wrong by the oil crisis of 1973. This led to a sharp criticism of corporate planning, which was of little use in a period of turbulent change. It is this phenomenon that then brought into perspective, the issue of Strategic Management.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM