Vulnerability analysis: A new way to assess future trends

The changes in strategic planning processes currently under study and installation by industry leaders are testimony to the dissatisfaction of corporate management with the processes used during the late '60s and early '70s. Frequently, these processes turned managers into efficient caretakers, unable to adapt to the constantly changing business environment. Part of the problem was the approaches were based on extrapolations of a business environment of relative plenty, one in which crises were operational rather than strategic. There had been little thought given to developing the means to deal with planning for shortages, for instance, or other important threats to the company's long‐term strategies.