The finance and accounting processes tend to be mistakenly viewed only as necessary functions of month‐end closing and historical focus. When finance becomes recognized as a value‐adding process ‐ creating and focusing information to facilitate achieving the goals and objectives of the...

This paper focuses on the role of scenarios in planning research and development (R&D). R&D programs often focus on the technology, which is relatively forecastable. But the products that are the ultimate output of R&D programs will have to succeed a world in which lifestyles and society are...

Purpose – Bill Ralston and Ian Wilson have written a unique resource for corporate leaders – The Scenario Planning Handbook: Developing Strategies in Uncertain Times (Thomson/Southwestern, 2006). Strategy & Leadership editor Robert M. Randall interviewed them to ask, for example, Why does...

Purpose – The paper explains how scenarios can be used to create alternative models of markets in way that is useful to marketing managers and the product development team. Design/methodology/approach – The paper outlines the how‐to process for developing and using marketing scenarios....

Purpose – The paper seeks to show that in today's turbulent business environment, the advantage goes to organizations whose leaders are continually scanning the external environment, engaging in organizational dialogue and participating in learning processes in order to discover possibilities,...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reveal a surprising global drama now unfolding across the world: unpredicted demographic trends portend unexpected social transformations. Design/methodology/approach – Using recent research, the paper considers the startling implications of some...

Purpose – Corporate innovation efforts frequently suffer from a lack of strategic focus and alignment between innovation teams and senior executives. The identification of a corporate strategic frontier can align both groups on the scope and focus of their innovation efforts, greatly...

Purpose – Business‐model innovation is critical to success in today's increasingly complex and fast‐changing environment. So corporate leaders need to understand when to adapt the business model and how to execute the change. This paper aims to address this issue....

Purpose – This paper aims to contend that to achieve the resilience needed to thrive long‐term in a dynamic, highly competitive marketplace companies need to commit to continual customer‐focused agility training. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses “Big Brown Box Inc.”,...