Strategic Business Management - Essay Example

Scenario planning is a business instrument used to align people’s way of thinking with alternative future situations to which decisions that are made today may be important. Scenarios represent how the future is perceived in a certain year by considering the current situation through consistent internal events. They are therefore roadmaps from current events to what may happen in the coming future hence their importance in strategic management as well as corporate planning. The concept is an important instrument for strategic plans that may improve management decisions based on possibilities in the future environment. it is especially crucial in those organizations that are very sensitive to external factors they cannot control and in which the timelines are considerably long (Bandhold, 2003).

            Scenario planning as a strategic business tool seeks to address events and trends in the present which are strategic to the decision-making organs of an organization. They isolate environmental elements that can be seen to be considerably predictable or certain and these are referred to as variables (Blyth, 2005).  Scenario planning also addresses environmental elements thatch are so uncertain like trends affecting systems in manners so difficult to predict but with dynamics that can be understood. Uncertain events may also be identifiable factors that may disrupt business continuity hence need monitoring and events not encountered before such as natural calamities and technological developments.