The objective of this booklet is to present an integrated picture of the philosophy, process, and practices of strategic planning in an organizational context. It is based on the premise that planning includes the design of a desired future as well as effective ways of bringing it about. Specifically, the document illustrates a planning process-the Planning-Allocating-Monitoring Cycle (PAM). The PAM cycle consists of seven steps: (1) setting goals and objectives, (2) determining principal factors which influence these goals and objectives, (3) identifying likely future changes, (4) identifying choices, (5) assessing consequences, (6) deciding the best ways to allocate resources in light of various consequences, and (7) monitoring these processes so that they work toward desired results. Within a corporate context, the PAM cycle focuses on identifying most important factors influencing specified goals and objectives, identifying the best information about each factor, getting a clear picture of the situation as a whole, and determining the impact of alternative strategies on bottom-line performance measures. Four case studies are presented as examples of PAM uses within a corporate context. The case studies involve conducting a survey of corporate managers to determine how they view the relationship of their organizations with society, forecasting world oil prices in the 1980's, projecting scenarios of investment in the United Kingdom in the 1980's, and creating a simulation model for a new high technology project. For each case study, information is presented on pragmatic application of PAM principles, processes used which highlight PAM principles, and evaluation of survey/model/forecasting results in light of PAM principles and other available data. (BD)