‘Start-ups must focus on scenario planning’

Scenario planning helps entrepreneurs create a strategy that works for all future situations, including the pandemic, according to Sudhir Raj K, Professor at the Nitte-based Justice KS Hegde Institute of Management (JKSHIM).

Speaking at a webinar on ‘Scenario planning: A new mantra for start-up success’, organised by JKSHIM, he said Covid pandemic has shaken the world business at its root. In such a situation, scenario planning is extremely useful for all corporates, investors, entrepreneurs and leaders.

He defined scenario planning as a ‘diagnostic tool’ for conditions in which uncertainty rules with no clear answers. It is the construction of the possible future situations for the conditions. By engaging in a disciplined process of thinking ahead, it helps in alerting the actions of entrepreneurs accordingly.

Explaining the steps involved in scenario planning, Raj said an entrepreneur should create scenarios after identifying the problem he/she trying to solve and the critical uncertainties around it. Following this, the entrepreneur should identify and monitor the key indicators in those scenarios. Scenarios provoke genuine learning and strategies, he said.

Futurists act and think ahead of times and choose innovative solutions through scenario planning, he said.

Urging the start-up entrepreneurs to reboot and reimagine, he said they should think the unthinkable and start building scenarios on that. With the mantra of thinking the unthinkable they should create critical mass of skilled personnel.

Entrepreneurs should not see pandemic as a problem but as an opportunity, he said. There is a need to evolve new business scenarios.

Referring to the example of Wig Garage of Mumbai, he said Shekar Wig, a lawyer by profession, had the liking for repairing cars. He used this skill to repair cars during the lockdown period. This made him set up his enterprise Wig Garage, he added.