ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the six approaches and compares and contrasts them along several dimensions, including key features, assumptions, strengths, weaknesses, and contingencies governing their use in the public sector. The strategic planning process includes general policy and direction setting, situation assessments, strategic issues identification, strategy development, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation. The chapter presents conclusions about the applicability of strategic planning to public organizations and purposes. The Harvard policy model provides the principal (though often implicit) inspiration behind the most widely cited recent models of public and nonprofit sector strategic planning. Strategic planning is often viewed as a system whereby managers go about making, implementing, and controlling important decisions across functions and levels in the firm. A number of other encompassing approaches to strategic planning have been developed primarily in the United Kingdom in the field of operations research. These include Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA), soft systems methodology, and strategic choice.