ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the basic concepts of planning as they relate to marketing. Planning is an analytical process which encompasses an assessment of the future, the determination of desired objectives in the context of that future, the development of alternative courses of action to achieve such objectives, and the selection of a course of action from among these alternatives. Scope and time are the basic factors in defining or classifying a plan. Time is the usual variable in differentiating between long-and short-range plans. Short- and long-range planning of company activities on a continuing basis, and the development of consistent strategies and tactics resulting in an integrated system of marketing action, are seen as the key to marketing management's task. The single most important factor in creating a need for planning is change and the uncertainty created by change. Planning serves a truly economic function by preventing sub-optimization.
