Issues in Corporate IS Planning

The most prevalent planning models that originated in the late sixties are the rational or top-down models, where the underlying notion of organizational level inputs to the IS plan became accepted as normative. However, with the increasing complexity of the IT environment, the applicability of the top-down model comes into question. In an attempt to place the crucial issue of IS planning in perspective, this paper discusses the top-down models of planning and the other approaches to planning that have become popular over the past decade. Specifically, three additional planning approaches are discussed, namely, the competitive analysis approaches, contingency approaches and the information economy. Critical conceptual issues are then raised on the viability of a simple top-down approach in the future.