The statement “Organizations that fail to plan plan to fail” refers to the idea that the success of an organization relies on its ability to plan formally within its environment. , which although the statement is widely accepted, some criticisms and arguments against its validity must be acknowledged. The strength of the statements is amplified by three major factors: planning can facilitate a sense of direction and foster a coordinated workforce, planning reduces the level of ambiguity about the future in the organization, and finally planning will establish the objectives or principles that simplify control (Robbins, DeCenzo, Coulter, Woods, 2013). The weakness of this statement can be seen through two key impacts of formal planning: Planning can create rigidity in the workplace, planning can inhibit new ideas and originality and, finally, planning requires a management effort to consider today's competition and not the future of the company (Robbins, DeCenzo, Coulter, Woods, 2013). Planning can often be called a “core management function” due to its ability to provide the foundation for all management tasks (Robbins, DeCenzo, Coulter, Woods, 2013), and as such, planning can facilitate a greater level of efficiency within the organization. Armstrong (1982) argues that instead of resorting to disorganized speculation and conjecture, a well-defined formal planning practice facilitates the assembly of information essential to the organization. Similarly, Ansof (1991) argued that a formal planning practice would result in better financial performance of an organization than one that does not (Miller, C. Chet, Cardinal, Laura. B 1994). Simultaneously planning an organization's culture and learning capabilities...... middle of article......: 151-166Delmar, Frederic, Shane, Scott. 2003. Does business planning facilitate new venture development. Strategic Management Review. J., 24: 1165-1185 Davidson, William H. 1991. The role of big picture analysis in business planning. Organizational dynamics. Winter91, Vol. 19 Number 3, p4-16. 1 p.m. 1Mankins, Michael C, Steele, Richard. 2006 Stop making plans Start making decisions. Harvard Business Review. Vol 84 Issue 1, 76-84Miller, C. Chet, C. Cardinal, Laura B. 1994. Strategic planning and business performance: A synthesis of more than two decades of research. Academy of Management Journal Vol 37. No.6, 1649-1665Robbins, Stephen, DeCenzo, David, Coulter, Mary, Woods, Megan. 2013. Managing the essentials. PagesCapon, Noel, Farley, John U., Hulbert, James M. 1994. Strategic planning and financial performance: More evidence. Journal of Management Studies.