But as commonly practiced, scenario planning has some major flaws that limit its effectiveness.
Scenario planning tends to be a lengthy process that sucks up a lot of time and energy.
Using scenario planning to create White Space where employees can develop new solutions is a hallmark of successful companies.
Scenario planning is not, or rather should not be, about forecasting the future.
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"With any major event you would expect us to do some scenario planning and this is no different, " she said.
For many owners of artwork or decorative collectibles, scenario planning works well for individual or a small number of items.
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"We cannot be complacent, and Marine Scotland is continually assessing the situation and scenario planning for all eventualities, " Lochhead said.
Given the ubiquity of scenario planning, why do so many businesses find themselves playing catch-up when their market environments change?
But Alex Salmond and colleagues also steer clear of precise scenario planning with regard to Faslane and the removal of Trident.
The three key features of this magic negotiation crystal ball include: (1) scenario planning, (2) negotiation move planning, and (3) offer projections.
Innovation requires we do more scenario planning about the future, rather than just pouring over historical numbers and expecting projections to come true.
The lesson is that Scenario Planning, in the face of possible reactions by the IRS, is necessary to give owners of art and collectibles options.
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However, cognizant that this situation could become untenable, some leaders in Beijing have been doing worst-case-scenario planning on how best to deal with the North.
Today almost no business operates without some kind of scenario planning.
These numbers mean that the snapshots we take today are probably useless in the near future, and that scenario planning and financial modeling are going to get harder.
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What ties these companies together is their use of scenario planning to focus on the future, rather than relying on traditional planning systems firmly tied to the past.
You can grow in 2011, but to do so you need to shed the old planning system (and its resource wasting processes) and get serious about scenario planning.
The Pakistani army's paranoia is fed by scenario planning in which a hostile Afghan government, with a growing army now trained and equipped by the Americans, joins India to mount a two-front war against Pakistan, sandwiched between the two countries.
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The answer from director-general Mark Thompson: "We do not want to get involved in any scenario planning or anything which might colour our role as an independent platform where authoritative impartial journalism and debate can take place which all Scots, whatever their views, can trust in".
Even when they do regular scenario planning they fail to delve deeply into their operations, or look at how multiple events might interrelate (for instance, increased energy costs and their impact on interest rates, which in turn would likely affect the cost of capital for one's customers and their businesses).
More than ever, companies have to provision for multiple scenarios and they can only do that by engaging in a dynamic and multi-dimensional scenario-based strategic planning process.
More matured offering includes energy forecasting and scenario modeling, budgeting and planning, energy rebate management and energy sourcing and procurement.
Once a better future is identified, then the organization is unleashed to create that future by planning backward from the scenario, figuring out how to implement it.
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Lacking a forward planning process based on scenario development, and lacking a good market sensing system that would pick up on the early market shift as novice competitor Apple started to really change the market, these companies are now falling rapidly to the wayside.
But the problem also has to do with a remarkable lack of planning for a worst-case scenario.
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Another no-brainer scenario for a top golf tour operator is when you are planning a truly luxurious and over the top trip: just decided to give yourself a spur of the moment whirlwind golf trip through Europe that visits Royal County Down, Ballybunion, Muirfield and Valderrama, linking these epic but hard to get on courses in different countries by helicopters and private jets?
Imagine this scenario: you are gravely ill and in the hospital but as good planning would have it, you assigned your brother as power-of-attorney for your finances.
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Incidentally, this is why scenario method, which tells stories of alternative future situations, is such an effective planning device.
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