Tailored, not benchmarked. A fresh look at corporate planning

In today's competitive markets, every company has an action plan. Yet for most managers, the processes used to create these plans don't work. The root of the problem, suggests Campbell, may be that too many companies benchmark their processes and by doing so, prevent managers from focusing on what is unique to their situation. Good planning processes, the author argues, are not generic processes but ones in which both analytic techniques and organizational processes are carefully tailored to the needs of individual businesses and to the skills of corporate managers. The author cites examples of three companies that have successfully individualized their processes: Granada, Dow Chemical Company, and Emerson Electric. A mature electrical-products business such as Emerson, he says, has different planning needs than a fast-growing entertainment business like Granada or a highly cyclical chemicals business like Dow. Different chief executives may have different insights about how to go about adding value. Take the CEOs of Granada and Dow. Both set tough targets to stretch their businesses, but the way each CEO gets his managers to commit to his targets differs considerably. Bad planning can actively destroy value, the author says. It wastes people's time and money. It sends the wrong signals to managers. It can even lead managers to follow bad advice. That's why managers should go to the effort of reexamining and possibly changing their company's planning process.