Question

Question 3 (15 marks)

a) How might planning in a not-for-profit organization such as the Cancer-Link Society differ from planning in a for-profit organization such as Adidas?

b) Will the ‘planning’ function become more or less important to managers in the future? Why?

Answer 1

1. Considering ‘not-for-profit’ and ‘for-profit’ organizations, these operate in the similar fashion but the planning differs in both the cases as they use planning tool to form goals is diverse. BoD (Board of Directors) carries different expectations on ‘for-profit’ than the ‘not-for-profit’ and involvement of different stakeholders in both the cases. Hence, in both ‘for-profit’ (Adidas) than the ‘not-for-profit’ (Cancer-Link Society ) organization goals are different, as first one focus on return dividends to shareholders over the period of time where in second the focus remains to make money to sustain. However, in both ‘for-profit’ (Adidas) than the ‘not-for-profit’ (Cancer-Link Society ) organizations uses SWOT analysis as the planning tool. ‘For-profit’ such as Adidas look for inputs from its workforce and potential stakeholders or customers whereas ‘ Not-for-profit’ such as Cancer-Link Society need to call external stakeholders (who support the society and are beneficiaries).
2. Planning is an important aspect for any manager and this will be continue to be important in the future too. Planning helps in creating goals and objectives to be achieved in short or long term. It helps in integrating various activities , for the better collaboration in the organization or a project and for the success of a business. Most importantly, the planning process offer relevant information to the senior managers to perform effective decision and in the resource allocation, which enables to achieve organizational objectives in order to maximize productivity and profits.