During the devastating earthquake of January 2001, Mansukhbhai incurred heavy loss and most of his goods were damaged. He distributed the leftover stock that was undamaged, to the quake affected masses of Kutch. This led to a photograph that was taken just after the earthquake and featured on the Sandesh Gujarati Daily in February 2001. It showed a broken water filter that was made by Mansukhbhai with a caption that said “The poor man’s broken fridge”. At that time, he met the Gujarat Grass-roots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN), Ahmedabad, which supported Mansukhbhai further in his endeavours. Finally after an arduous quest and several tests of soil and fridge designs, he emerged with the innovative Mitticool fridge in 2005. After that he has innovated various products using clay. The company has stuck to its policy of keeping all its products at a lower rate which will be affordable for the poor people. Their future plans include starting a factory with the aid of the National Innovation Foundation at IIM Ahmedabad and making a MittiCool house. It will be a green (eco-friendly) house with clay that will have no electricity but only renewable energy to maintain a comfortable temperature inside.”

Which of the following statement is true regarding "Planning"?

• Planning lays down the base for other functions of management.
• Planning succeeds all the other functions of management.
• Planning is also called as "Forward looking function".
• Planning is not an exclusive function of top management nor of any particular department. 

1,3 and 4

The correct answer is option 3 i.e. 1,3 and 4.

Planning is a primary function of management: Planning lays down the base for other functions of management. All other managerial functions are performed within the framework of the plans drawn. Thus, planning precedes other functions. This is also referred to as the primacy of planning. The various functions of management are interrelated and equally important. However, planning provides the basis of all other functions.

Planning is futuristic: Planning essentially involves looking ahead and preparing for the future. The purpose of planning is to meet future events effectively to the best advantage of an organisation. It implies peeping into the future, analysing it and predicting it. Planning is, therefore, regarded as a forward looking function based on forecasting.

* Planning precedes all other functions of management nor succeed them.