Unicor's strategic planning process: a developmental model

In this period of cutback-management, downsizing, and cost-containment in the public sector, everyone has become interested in strategic planning. The academic and management guru tomes on theoretical strategic planning grow both in volume and abstrusness as the years pass. And yet, the really strange thing is that everyone seems to be talking about, intellectualizing about, and philosophizing about strategic planning, while very few organizations are doing it effectively. Surely strategy is a complex and multifaceted concept. It sometimes leads to great confusion, fear, and disorientation for managers, because leaders do not communicate exactly what they mean by the term or the processes of strategic planning. And since many public leaders do not anchor strategic planning into the cultural and contextual bowels of their respective organizations, the result most times ends up in endless debate, academic nonsense, and useless paper-pushing.