e of the primary problems related to the traditional concept of strategic planning is the rigidity with which a plan, once made, is treated by management (Shaw, 1981). This rigidity in the adherence to a strategic plan is widely evi dent in the last years of the twentieth century (Gimpl, & Dakin, 1984). As long ago as the mid 1970s, however, some researchers cautioned that successful organizations must be able and must be willing to adjust strategies to changing conditions in the external environment (Miles, Snow, & Pfeffer, 1974). While the validity of a flexible approach to the pro cess of strategic planning an approach which recognizes that changing conditions in an organization's external environment 3both constrain the feasibility of alternative strategies, and demands, at times, changes in a strategic plan appears obvious, few managers can accommodate such flexibility. Many managers, in an attempt to eliminate uncertainty from their strategic planning, simply ignore the dynamism of their organi zation's external environment. This syndrome has been referred to as managing "our way to economic decline" (Hayes, & Aber nethy, 1980, 67).
An increasing number of researchers are finding that new frames of reference are required for effective strategic plan ning in organizations (Shrivstava, & Schneider, 1984). These new frames of reference are environmentally oriented. Increas ingly, the significance of technology in the external environ ment is being recognized as a primary influencing factor on the strategic planning process and on strategy development (Froh man, 1985). Of even greater significance, however, is the recognition that an effective strategic planning process demands flexibility; a flexibility which permits adjustments to changes in an organization's external environment (Arrington, & Sawaga, 1985).
In this context, it was observed that (1) strategic plan ning must include an external environmental issues ...