PRD Partnership started with Roger Croft and Derek Cheshire having good experience supporting innovation and entrepreneurs.
In the last 5 years we have written quite a few business or strategic plans. We have also facilitated a lot of workshops on a variety of topics.
Plug into your Market was born out of working out where our immediate value has been to clients.
This is a market research service that examines the best route to market for products and services. This is based on research of the market, the firms resources, and their values. Our skills are used to both research and analyse information, think laterally, and support the owner of the business into making a set of decisions that they feel both excited and realistic.
Plug into your market results provide focus, reduce risk, and makes better use of your resources in developing your business proposition.
For more details please see our webpage or contact us for more details
Showing posts with label scenario planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scenario planning. Show all posts
Friday, 26 February 2010
Thursday, 26 June 2008
The future's bright - what does it look like?
The best way to ensure that your business not only survives, but thrives, is to know what the future holds. Many people profess to do this already but what is it exactly that they are doing? From your existing management information you might be able to predict the amount of resources required (both human and material) as well as the features of your competitive environment. How far in the future can you do this without resorting to sticking a wet finger into the air? The answer is probably less than 12 months.
The question is, how far can we look into the future and with what certainty? The answer is anything from 5 to 30 years is possible, and that would certainly help with crafting strategy and changing the direction of even the largest multi national business if this is required. But how?
Most people are familiar with the passage of a ship on the ocean that leaves a wake behind. By examining the wake and knowing how much time has passed, one or more experts could tell you something about the ship, its speed and course. Now imagine that you are at the tail end of the wake but you are in the present, the ship is in the future and not visible to you. If you could pick up all of the bits of information that are present, look at the patterns, and have access to experts then it is possible to gain sufficient information to predict the future for your company.
Predicting the future has developed into a whole new topic known as … Futures. Most gurus will use prediction, based on facts, certainty and giving you answers. It sounds safe but its usefulness over time is limited and it does not deal with the uncertainty of the future. Futures uses a degree of imagination, stories (or scenarios) and a whole lot of questions to rigorously examine the future and it can look decades ahead.
Businesses might wish to use futures to quantify risks and opportunities, craft strategies, inform investment decisions and fuel their innovation programmes. Government and other public sector bodies have broadly similar aims – creating policies, identifying areas for intervention, investment and education needs.
To find out exactly how this can be achieved you will need to wait for the next article in this series. If you cannot wait then get in touch now.
The question is, how far can we look into the future and with what certainty? The answer is anything from 5 to 30 years is possible, and that would certainly help with crafting strategy and changing the direction of even the largest multi national business if this is required. But how?
Most people are familiar with the passage of a ship on the ocean that leaves a wake behind. By examining the wake and knowing how much time has passed, one or more experts could tell you something about the ship, its speed and course. Now imagine that you are at the tail end of the wake but you are in the present, the ship is in the future and not visible to you. If you could pick up all of the bits of information that are present, look at the patterns, and have access to experts then it is possible to gain sufficient information to predict the future for your company.
Predicting the future has developed into a whole new topic known as … Futures. Most gurus will use prediction, based on facts, certainty and giving you answers. It sounds safe but its usefulness over time is limited and it does not deal with the uncertainty of the future. Futures uses a degree of imagination, stories (or scenarios) and a whole lot of questions to rigorously examine the future and it can look decades ahead.
Businesses might wish to use futures to quantify risks and opportunities, craft strategies, inform investment decisions and fuel their innovation programmes. Government and other public sector bodies have broadly similar aims – creating policies, identifying areas for intervention, investment and education needs.
To find out exactly how this can be achieved you will need to wait for the next article in this series. If you cannot wait then get in touch now.
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