Michael Porter, considered by corporate managers and business analysts to be one of strategic planning's leading theorists, is a professor of business policy at the Harvard Business School. Author of the recent bestseller Competitive Strategy and guest columnist for The Wall Street Journal,...

Innovation remains the catchword at General Electric Co., but the means of its achievement depend not only on developing new products or services, it depends also on a plan. As the company passes $27 billion in sales and $1.5 billion in earnings, G.E.'s widely publicized strategic‐planning...