Tanja Hichert is an experienced and reputable
scenario planning practitioner and futurist.
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This Strategy Insights is the second of two dealing with systemic global risks. The first, published earlier this year, dealt with the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risks Report 2010 which identified major global risks, and focussed in particular on their inter-connectedness. This Strategy Insights provides an overview of a report by insurance company Lloyd’s [...]

Southern Africa is extremely vulnerable to high food prices and food insecurity, despite competitive advantages such as abundant agricultural land and a generally favourable climate. It lags behind other regions in the world in terms of agricultural development and investment, while still having large proportions of its population based in rural areas. Global agricultural trade [...]

The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) celebrates its centenary this year (2010). As the oldest customs union in the world, it should have many successes to celebrate, but, ironically, the celebrations are clouded by an uncertain future for the organisation.

This Strategy Insights is the first of two dealing with systemic global risks. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risks Report 2010 identifies major global risks and assesses their likelihood and economic impact against a backdrop of a higher level of systemic risk, global governance gaps, and potential impacts of ‘creeping risks’. A Global Risks [...]

The National Intelligence Council’s (NIC) 2025 Global Trends report deals with how key global trends might develop over the next 15 years to influence world events. It contains a range of possibilities and potential discontinuities, amongst others in the form of four global scenarios and 2025 Global Landscape ‘certainties’ and ‘uncertainties’. An overview of the [...]

Strategy Insights (Corporate Environment) of December 2007 (The greening of business) sets out some of the fundamental changes that businesses are undergoing as a result of climate change drivers, and Strategy Insights (Corporate Environment) of February 2008 (The future of management) deals with the need for companies to innovate management practices to better cope with [...]

Businesses in developed countries are undergoing some fundamental changes as a result of climate change drivers. The situation in South Africa, which will come under pressure to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, is described in the recently released Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) report that covered South Africa’s Top 40 companies and the international climate change factors [...]

Gary Hamel’s new book, The future of management, deals with the need for companies to innovate management practices to better cope with fundamental 21st century challenges. Management innovation has the power to create ultimate competitive advantage for businesses, but it will not be possible to reinvent management without some risk taking. In this regard he [...]

The business landscape (organisation contextual environment) is charactersised by turbulance which describes conditions which are uncertain, complex and volatile. Standard forecasting and planning tools as well as standard winning strategies are inadequate in these conditions. Senario planning and collaborative value-binding strategies are described as alternatives. Download the pdf