What was going on when I was born?

In these days of carefully honed corporate strategic plans, Dillard Department Stores has a simpler plan than most. ''We'll go wherever business opportunities present themselves,'' said William Dillard, the 69-year-old founder, chairman and chief executive, in a recent interview. ''We've never had a specific plan in our company. Of course, we will continue our expansion, so maybe that is a plan.''

A driver who was indicted for manslaughter after his concrete-mixer truck crashed into a parked car and killed a woman and her two children last year in Manhattan has been permitted to plead guilty to reduced charges with a promise of no prison term. The plea was accepted by Acting Justice Luis M. Neco of State Supreme Court after another acting justice, Harold J. Rothwax, refused to do so. Court officials said it was rare for a judge to deny a plea arrangement between the prosecution and the defense. Justice Rothwax maintained that the defendant, who had been accused of driving while impaired by marijuana, should serve a prison term if found guilty.

THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1984 Markets The persistent strength of the dollar upsets the predictions of many economists who did not foresee rising interest rates. Traders seem to ignore the nation's huge trade and current-account deficits and focus instead on its rapid economic growth and low inflation. Many analysts now say the dollar will remain strong at least through the rest of 1984. (Page D1.) The dollar continued to rise against most European currencies. (D5.)

Changes in a U.S.-Honduran accord will be sought by Honduras in an effort to win more economic and military benefits, according to Honduras military officials. They said a Honduran commission was studying the 1954 military agreement and would ask Washington for such changes as preferential trade arrangements and increased Honduran control over United States military personnel. (Page A1, Column 3.) English-speaking Caribbean leaders opened their first meeting since the United States-led invasion of Grenada last October and raised the question whether their 12-year-old regional organization can survive. Four of the 13 member countries opposed the invasion and others are at odds over economic policies. (A3:1-3.)

Orders for steel, which plummeted in the second quarter, are expected to rise in the next few months. But they are expected to remain below the robust levels of early this year. Steel orders represented 92 percent of capacity in February and fell to 56 percent in June, according to Charles A. Bradford, an analyst with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. Industry economists and analysts predict, however, that the order rate will soon climb back over the 60 percent level. ''Order entry has declined rather sharply in the past six to eight weeks,'' said John M. Workman, manager of market research for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. ''We would expect orders to begin improving by August.''

President Reagan has questioned the legality of the Rev. Jesse Jackson's missions of personal diplomacy and cautioned against his traveling to Moscow to seek the release of Andrei D. Sakharov, the dissident Soviet physicist. The President, in an interview recorded Monday and released today, said the ''law of the land'' prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. Mr. Reagan added that for Mr. Jackson to attempt a mission to Moscow in behalf of Mr. Sakharov ''ignores things that might be going on in the quiet diplomatic channels that we have going forward.'' Mr. Jackson, a contender for the Democratic Presidential nomination, has indicated he might attempt a Moscow mission. No Plans for Legal Action Mr. Sakharov has not been seen since last May, when he began a hunger strike after the Soviet Government refused to permit his wife, Yelena G. Bonner, to leave the country for medical treatment.

In 1973, the Allied Corporation applied for a patent in Japan covering a new type of material known as amorphous metals. ''At the time of the filing we recogized it as a pioneering patent,'' said Harry Knutson, the Tokyo representative of Allied, which is based in Morristown, N.J. What Allied did not foresee was how difficult it would be to get the patent - its application was opposed by Japanese companies and it was bogged down in procedural delays for 10 years. Nor was Allied's experience unique. The growing high-technology rivalry between the United States and Japan is being fought not only in the laboratory and factory, but also in the patent office. As a result, patent procedures have become a source of friction between the two nations.

When New York City's Public Development Corporation and the New York State Urban Development Corporation disclosed plans for four immense office towers at Times Square last December, the reaction was mixed at best. There were some cautiously positive responses and some strongly negative ones. What was missing was enthusiastic support, even from civic groups that had supported the master plan for the Times Square area, of which these towers, designed by John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson, were a part. It is not hard to see why the response from the public was something less than pure joy. Although most critics, civic groups and members of the public have supported the general principles of the Times Square renewal project, the sheer size and bulk of the towers have come as something of a surprise. The project includes placing office towers around Times Square itself, renovating the theaters in the middle of the block of 42d Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, and erecting a merchandise and apparel mart at the corner of 42d Street and Eighth Avenue. The cluster of towers, which will put more than four million square feet of office space around the city's most fabled intersection, is as bulky as anything going up anywhere in town.

The value of the dollar on foreign exchange markets continues to rise, postponing what has been a long-expected decline and confounding many economists. The dollar's performance has defied widespread forecasts of a selloff because the American economy continues to grow rapidly, while inflation stays low and traders turn a blind eye to the country's huge trade and current account deficits. But more important, it is rising because few experts thought that interest rates would shoot up as high as they have this year. For foreigners, the attraction of high - and rising - interest rates has outweighed any negative factors attached to the dollar and the American economy.

''I'm going to have more, God willing.'' - Maria Gon,calves Moreira, of Rio de Janeiro, after the birth of her 10th set of twins. (A2:4.)

To hundreds who have not actually met him, he is the frail, white-haired steward who on a Saturday or Sunday once showed them to a seat in Canterbury Cathedral. He has been a banker and a British Army officer. In childhood, his mother introduced him as ''the little baronet.'' This week, 91 years into his life, he finally had to concede that he would never be a baronet, only William Henry George Dunbar of Kilconzie.

A dispatch by The Associated Press in Business Day yesterday incorrectly identified the company that has agreed to sell its Little General Stores to the Circle K Corporation. It is the General Host Corporation.