CORPORATE PLANNING and MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

Corporate Planning and Management course is an introduction to corporate planning with tools and techniques available to managers toward achieving organizational effectiveness. In this course, you will be exposed the basic tools and techniques available to managers for planning and decision making. The course will also cover a number of topics including the functions of planning, necessity for planning, importance of planning, problems solving in organizational planning issues such as capital budgeting, new product launches and acquisition.

The role of a corporate planner as a staff specialist and his relationship with line managers, actual planning function and problems through the use of appropriate case materials are also discussed in this course. The course guide tells you briefly what the course is about, what course materials you will be using and how you can work your way through the study materials. It suggests some general guidelines for the amount of time you are likely to spend on each unit of the course in order to complete it successfully.

It provides guidance on your tutor-marked assignments, which will be made available to you at the Study Centre. There are regular tutorial classes that are linked to the course. You are advised to attend these sessions

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS COURSE

Corporate Planning course consists of four modules made up of 17 units. Specifically, the course discusses the following:

• Overview of management as science, theory and practice.
• Planning as an important management function.
• Corporate planning and strategic planning.
• Objectives- foundation of planning.
• Classification of planning.
• Steps in planning.
• Decision making I.
• Decision making II.
• Management by objectives.
• Premising and forecasting.
• Operational planning tools I – budget.
• Operational planning tools II
• Operational planning tools III

COURSE OBJECTIVES

To achieve the aims set out, the course has overall objectives. Each unit also has specific objectives. The unit objectives are always specified at the beginning of a unit; you should read them before you start working through the unit. You may want to refer to them during your study of the unit to check your progress.

Below are the overall objectives of the course. By meeting these objectives, you should have achieved the aims of the course as a whole.

On successful completion of the course, you should be able to:

• Explain the relationship between planning and organizational performance.
• Define corporate planning.
• Explain why corporate plan fail and what can be done to ensure its success.
• Explain when a strategic plan should be made.
• Define objectives and why are they considered the foundation of planning.
• Identify an organization’s stated objectives.
• Define the concept of brainstorming.
• List the characteristics of decision making under the condition of certainty.