Abstract
This article focuses on the challenges faced by the businesses in the U.S. American business leaders recognize the need to meet this challenge with longer-range planning. During the early stages of industrial development in the United States, tile subject of long-range planning would have generated little interest in business circles. In fact, the notion of trying to plan very far in advance in any great detail was contrary to both the temperament of the entrepreneurs who built American industry and the needs of the time. During this period, successful business planning was equated with management's skill in rapidly and economically adapting to change. The relatively slower rate, magnitude. and complexity of change permitted managers to wait until it had taken place. Quick, imaginative reactions were often successful substitutes for planning. The United States today is rapidly approaching maturity. It is no longer isolated or insulated from international competition. American business no longer reigns supreme, unchallenged in efficiency and know-how.