The concepts of long-range planning and strategic planning are explained, and a planning model is proposed. Attention is directed to an environmental scanning model that is congruent with the concept of strategic planning and that emerges from one portion of the futures research community, issues management. A third planning model, the strategic planning process model, is proposed as a combination of long-range planning and the environmental scanning model. It is suggested that supplementing long-range planning with strategic planning concepts will help deal with a changing external environment. The environmental scanning model begins with scanning the external environment for emerging trends and issues that pose threats or opportunities to the organization. Each potential issue or trend is then analyzed in the evaluating/ranking stage as to the likelihood that it will emerge and the nature and degree of its impact on the organization. Forecasts are made and each of the issues and trends are monitored for their relevance and accuracy. The strategic planning process consists of six stages: environmental scanning, evaluation of issues, forecasting, goal setting, implementation, and monitoring. (SW)