The Relationship Among Firm Characteristics and Design of Strategic Planning Systems in Large Organizations

Abstract

This article investigates the relationships among severalfirm characteristics and some design parameters of strategic planning processes in 115 large U.S. corporations. The purpose is to increase our knowledge of the strategic planning process and to confirm several propositions developed in previous studies. The findings point out that firms tend to adopt a more flexible planning system as the level of environmental complexity increases. Other hypotheses relating the organization's size, structure, capital intensity, and market life cycle to strategic planning processes are tested, with mixed results.