Strategy for a competitive organization is about the way the leaders of that organization fulfill its purpose and vision in the environment in which they find themselves. This environment includes all the kinds of factors (PESTLE) that need to be taken into account - political, economical, social, technological, legal and environmental - and it also includes the future, since missions have to be carried out over long periods of time.

People tend to assume the environment is either unchanging or predictable. Based on forecasts, strategic thinking is converted into plans that get frozen into budgets and structures. The plan assumes a future that validates the plan; it is the future we bet on without any way of guaranteeing it will come to pass. We call this default scenario.

However, we live in a world increasingly shaken by discontinuities and sudden changes. Uncertainty plagues the future so that our plans do not hold up to the stream of real events.This failure of strategic plans does not mean that strategy and planning are invalid. It means we have to create a new approach to strategy and planning that takes into account the uncertainties of the future.

In a fluid and changing environment, default scenarios lead us into nasty shocks and unpleasant surprises. Therein, we have to develop a very flexible idea of strategy. It is no longer the fixed five or ten year plan, say, but a vision of a way ahead that is capable of being modified at every twist and turn of events and still allow progress towards our goal. We called this "Close-Looping".

There are many challenges that may possibly thwart our plans in the current business climate. It is somewhat like the weather. Business strategy must now embrace "what if?" questions which go beyond the reach of our habitual mindset. This requires us to think "out-of-the-box" with multiple futures.

Each distinct future is something from which we can learn how to reconcile our mission with the environment. In the face of the unknown there cannot be predetermined answers. Thus strategy ceases to be a fixed plan but rather a learning process that leads to continuous improvement in the alignment of the organization to its environment. In this way, our Strategic Business Planning is a powerful way of developing a learning organization that is able to anticipate the future and react to adversities, and enact plans that ensure business continuity.

The overall planning process shall take about 4 to 5 months depending on requirements and nature of business, using EWI’s propriety 4 phase approach and methodology. We encourage business leaders and entrepreneurs from big and small companies to become alert to change and are able to be flexible and react quickly when the unexpected inevitably occurs. When we meet with CEOs and other senior executives, we tell them, 'Think of the Unthinkable! Imagine the Unimaginable!'.