Integrating issue management with strategic planning: Unfulfilled promise or future opportunity?

Issue management evolved from environmental scanning and other precursors to help business organizations recognize and respond proactively to an increasing variety of external issues beyond traditional economic and business-competitive challenges. Some early business scholars and practitioner advocates of issue management perceived an important link to strategic planning but their formative vision remains only partly realized in operational practice. This paper considers and compares the two disciplines, including the almost careless use of the word strategic and the need for a more versatile taxonomy. It then explores reasons why the early promise of integration has gone largely unfulfilled, and suggests ways forward to achieve greater alignment.