Which planning concept must fall into either short, intermediate or long term?

• A. Operation plan
• B. Annual budget
• C. Strategic Planning
• D. Long term statistics

Answer: (C)

Understanding planning horizons helps you see how plans are organized over time. The question focuses on a planning concept that inherently operates across different time frames—short-term, intermediate, and long-term. Strategic planning is centered on the organization's direction over an extended period, setting goals and priorities that guide actions at all horizons. It creates long-range goals and then translates them into intermediate and short-range steps, so the concept itself spans multiple timeframes.

Other options are more time-specific. An operation plan is about implementing a particular task or mission and is typically short-term. An annual budget lays out financial resources for a single year. Long-term statistics represents data collection and analysis, not a planning approach with time horizons embedded in its core concept.