Topic: Scenario Planning

Showing 10 of 121 results (by popularity)

Delays: Accumulators in Disguise

Imagine a new manager at a beef packaging plant who knows nothing about the birthing process of calves. On the first day his workers show…

The Fall of First Executive: Who Is to Blame?

DECEMBER 22,1989 — The takeover of First American Bank & Trust in North Palm Beach, FL marks the third-biggest bank failure of the year. Fast…

S-shaped Growth and the Law of Diminishing Returns

Most of us are familiar with the story of Sir Isaac Newton sitting underneath an apple tree and “discovering” the law of gravity when he…

ithink®: The Visual Thinking Tool

We live in an age of spreadsheets. From tracking expenses to projecting future revenue streams, spreadsheet software packages have become an invaluable tool for many…

Scenario-Based Planning: Managing by Foresight

In the early 1980s, Royal Dutch/ Shell’s planning group uncovered some startling statistics: one-third of the companies listed in the Fortune 500 in 1970 had…

Déjà vu in Advertising

The year is 1986 and the advertising industry — which prides itself on being immune to economic slowdowns — is experiencing a sharp slowdown of…

If People Are Assets, Why Do We Treat Them Like Expenses?

There is a lot of talk in the business community about “people being our most important assets.” It sounds like a good idea — recognizing…

It Will Take Time to Perfect Recycling

Periodic gluts and shortfalls in the recycling industry aren’t a signal that recycling doesn’t work, says Donella Meadows. Such behavior is characteristic of any system…

Are Budgets Bad for Business?

Budgets are great for tracking money as it flows through a company. But when they are used for other purposes — long-range planning or gauging…

Can a Product Be Too Attractive?

At MacWorld 1987 I bought my first hard drive. It was made by Jasmine, a company that was creating a sensation because of its superior…