ABSTRACT
Corporate planning in the health sector has paralleled the broader shift to corporatism in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This chapter outlines the features of corporate and business planning, and suggests that organisational and business planning in the health arena should be based on an approach which values organisation and system effectiveness, not just efficiency. Although planning terminology is often loosely used, corporate planning should be distinguished from strategic planning. The rapid pace of change in the health care industry has tended to favour strategic planning, or hybrid versions of corporate and business planning which are flexibly expressed with short-term goals which are then linked to performance-based contracts and performance management processes. A public health analysis builds on established corporate planning processes to recognise the special mission of health sector organisations. The American health planning literature makes the distinction between ‘comprehensive planning’, which is population-based/needs-based planning, and ‘strategic planning’, which is oriented towards maximising profits or targeting demand.
