The Case Study Approach to Scenario Planning
A. Gregory Stone, Timothy A. O. Redmer · 2006
Scenario planning is a strategic planning method that organizations use to develop flexible long-term plans. The authors, experienced in case study design, development, and method for teaching in an MBA program, used the case study approach to create a scenario planning strategy to analyze a company’s product and move the company through its decision-making dilemmas. The case study is a technique well-suited for gathering and organizing the data and information required to construct the scenario. It can capture data and information related to past business performance, decisions, and dilemmas so the executive staff and other key employees can explore the future and the product/market options and possibilities using the scenario-planning process. “Houses are blowing away in hurricanes, and I have the product to literally ‘change the landscape,’ ” lamented David. David Pace, owner of Cellox, LLC, was contemplating this dilemma when the authors met with him as consultants. “The third pig of the three little pigs had good reason to build his house out of brick and mortar as opposed to his brothers, who made their houses of sticks and straw, ” he quickly added. David owns a patented insulated concrete form (ICF) product for the home construction market. It is notably superior to his competitors, but his difficulty was in persuading customers to change from stick construction to his concretebased