ABSTRACT
Hirschman, summing up his experience as consultant and adviser in Latin America, identified the “co-operative component of entrepreneurship” as a particularly strong need in developing countries. This chapter reviews some of the literature on corporate planning, and derive two contrasting underlying perspectives. It considers objectives and performance assessment in UK public enterprise, and deals with some implications for developing countries. The formal statement of objectives for an enterprise may differ greatly from what enterprise members believe, perceive or practice. Support for the model of systematic corporate planning appears both in the hierarchical structuring of most organisations, and in the logical ordering of formal corporate plans. For a public enterprise in a developing country, the form of systematic corporate planning will provide little benefit without local understanding and commitment. The corporate role is not just detailed analysis of forecasts, but rather the testing and commitment of able managers committed to their proposals.
