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This article focuses on the use of strategic planning and management processes in municipal governments with populations over 25,000. Strategic planning has been used in municipalities for 20 years now, but little is known about how it is used and the results obtained. In particular, we explore whether municipal governments tie other components of the overall strategic management process to their strategic plans. Findings do not show a dramatic expansion in the use of strategic planning, but there is some evidence of growing sophistication, as demonstrated by links to other management and decision-making activities. Managers were enthusiastic about their experiences with strategic planning and largely satisfied with their achievement of goals and objectives. Overall, we find a raising of the bar as far as strategic planning is concerned, but the use of comprehensive strategic management is only beginning to develop in a small number of leading-edge municipalities.
Strategic planning was introduced into the public sector 20 years ago, with much of the early literature focusing on local government applications (Dodge and Eadie 1982; Eadie 1983; Sorkin, Ferris, and Hudak 1984; Denhardt 1985). Over the past two decades, academics and practicing professionals have shown a sustained interest in strategic planning, and it has become a centerpiece of orthodox public management. Indeed, a recent study of the public management literature from a practitioner's perspective found strategic planning to be the most frequently discussed topic in at least one major public administration journal (Streib, Slotkin, and Rivera 2001). Beyond strategic planning itself, over the past several years interest has also focused on the broader process of strategic management in the public sector (Vinzant and Vinzant 1996a; Poister and Streib 1999; Zanetti and Cunningham 2000).
The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 requires federal agencies to develop strategic plans and tie them to budgets and performance measures, and many states have imposed similar results-oriented requirements through legislation or executive mandates (Broom 1995; Melkers and Willoughby 1998; Aristigueta 1999). Thus, 60 percent of a sample of state agencies responding to a 1995 survey reported using some form of strategic planning (Berry and Wechsler 1995). In contrast, there is no blanket requirement for local government jurisdictions to use particular approaches to planning and management. However, a decade ago, another...