Welcome to PlanningSkills.COM

This website focuses on a wide variety of topics related to organization and individual planning situations. The primary focus is business planning.

Planning is an anticipatory decision making process that involves situation analysis, forecasting outcomes and events, evaluating alternative courses of action, anticipating consequences and considering implementation issues and contingencies. Planning often begins with asking one or more questions, for example: What if ...? Could we ...? Do we ...? Is it possible...? How should we respond ...? How can we ...? Is it feasible to ...?

In general, planning is a proactive process that is intended to help individuals, groups and organizations achieve performance objectives.

Featured Glossary Term

Overall cost leadership is a generic strategic thrust that emphasizes providing products and services at the lowest per unit cost within an entire market. Porter notes (1980) "Cost leadership requires aggressive construction of efficient-scale facilities, vigorous pursuit of cost reductions from experience, tight cost and overhead control, avoidance of marginal customer accounts, and cost minimization in areas like R&D, service, sales force, advertising, and so on (p. 35)".

Featured Planning Tip

Someone must initiate and manage the planning process. It may be led by the CEO or by a staff person. Planning initiated, led and conducted by line managers is generally the best. "Don’t let your planning process push you around. Take charge and harness it’s power to achieve your goals. It’s a jungle out there and the competition is sure to know where they are going. Don’t let them beat you to your destination."