Scenario planning and organizational sustainability

Document Type:Research Paper

Subject Area:Management

Document 1

That is the only way organizations today will survive and thrive. Scenario planning is a strategic management technique that involves an organization creating possible future outcomes that will affect the organization through the interaction of the certain and uncertain environmental factors (Franco et al. , 2012:723 and Amer et al. The certain environmental factors include the organization’s finances, talent and products whereas the uncertain factors include government policies and political stability and technological advancements. In scenario planning, an organization appoints a team that reviews and explores factors affecting the organization both in the micro and macro environment and then formulates some possible future outcomes (Franco et al. As much as scenario planning is crucial to organizational sustainability, it is only effective if the organization is able to convert the information from the scenario planning stage to a strategy that will see the business through tough times (Tapinos, 2012:339).

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For example, organizations in the retail sector today are being threatened by the emergence of online stores like Amazon which have no physical premises. Stores like Walmart are left asking themselves if they will be faced out (Toufaily et al. A scenario planning exercise that extrapolates on consumer trends in purchasing and technological advancements can help the physical retail stores to decide whether they will also go online or if physical locations are still a sustainable strategy. This paper seeks to explore how organizations can use scenario planning as a tool to help them remain sustainable. Bansal, P. , & DesJardine, M. R. Business sustainability: It is about time.  Strategic Organization, 12(1), 70-78. Business Horizons. Sun, J. , Wu, S. , & Yang, K. An eco-systemic framework for business sustainability.

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