The Strategic Planning-Environment-Performance Relationship Re-visited in HTSFs

Recent research has shown that the degree of strategic planning within a company has a significant impact on performance of HTSFs. However, external operating environmental threats are often ignored or at best marginalized by firms, often leading to a negative impact on corporate performance. This paper develops and tests a methodology using a number of characteristic footprints to represent the emphasis on strategic planning, financial performance and the observance of external threats from the operating environment. The footprints are used to assess the link between the variables and overall corporate performance. The paper uses a new approach to multi-variate analysis based on the conditional formatting of spreadsheets and the use of nested logical operators for complex comprehension as well as established statistical techniques. The findings indicate that the degree of awareness of external environmental threats is associated with the degree of emphasis on the strategic planning process. The findings also show that strategic planning is positively linked to overall corporate performance.