The purpose of this paper is to outline a program of research which is needed to improve the state of the art of business planning. We have approached this task by relating planning to management science on one hand, and to certain areas of descriptive knowledge on the other. From these relations we have constructed a comprehensive program for research on planning. Some parts of this program are being actively pursued, some are still in need of attention. It is our hope that this paper will contribute to a two-fold purpose: that it will help give the business planner a sense of unique identity, and that it will provide him with a research program which he can pursue in strengthening this identity.