Future Focus Management for Sustainability (Research Paper Sample)

FUTURE FOCUS MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABILITY
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Abstract
The research is partitioned into distinct sections that attempt to address specific issues. The first part is the introduction where a context is created through the illustration of some of the apparent benefits that management practice can have as far as the attainment of sustainability is concerned. The second step entails the horizon scanning process where the identification of the essential elements of the environment as well as the internal factors in the business affect the overall operation of business entities. Through such analysis, it is possible to identify some of the strengths and weaknesses that are linked to business operations. The critical steps that are involved in the horizon scanning processes are then described to illustrate how the information is obtained and how it can be utilized as far as the improvement in the management of the business is concerned. The axis of uncertainty is then described where two drivers are extensively described to illustrate the extent to which they can have a meaningful influence on the attainment of high levels of sustainability. Two sets of contradicting scenarios are then described illustrating how they impact the attainment of sustainability at various levels of the management processes.
Future Focus Management for Sustainability
Introduction
Future focus management sustainability is an essential aspect of business practice as it ensures that a given business entity manages to preserve its capacity to maintain operations without any major influence. In business management, a lot of focus is usually attached to the future as it is believed that the success of any given business avenue depends on its capacity to effectively meets the needs of the customers without compromising its capacity to do the same in the future (Bradley, Parry, and O’Regan, 2020). In line with the stated argument, it can be believed that the sustainability of a business depends on its capacity to uphold the provision of goods and services without having to experience any form of challenge that may affect its ability to provide such services in the future (Schoormann, Behrens, and Knackstedt, 2018). The future focus management for sustainability requires the implementation of specific strategic measures that can have a long way in protecting the company from the adverse effects of both the internal and the external negative occurrences. The implementation of these strategies is usually backed up with essential theoretical models meant to ensure that the entire management process occurs in a manner that does not affect the company’s capacity to effectively offer its services to the customers (Schaltegger and Wagner, 2017). Therefore, the research seeks to examine the concept of future focus management for sustainability.
Horizon scanning process
The horizon scanning process is a systematic system of examination that is mainly focused on the identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities that are beyond the parliamentary terms. The identification of these critical aspects enables the management to formulate appropriate strategies that can enable a given company to adequately prepare for the events that may occur in the future (Abdel-Basset, Mohamed, and Smarandache, 2018). The scanning process not only provides essential information about the initiatives that can be implemented but equally highlights some of the practices that can be put in place to ensure that the implementation of these strategies is done in a manner that leads to the attainment of positive outcomes at various levels of the management (Leiber, Stensaker, and Harvey, 2018). According to the descriptions documented in the horizon scanning process, the strategies need to have some element of interrelationship as this is the only criteria that describe how these essential factors are interconnected (Gürel and Tat, 2017). Another essential aspect is the profound benefit of collective knowledge. Collective knowledge ensures that the decisions that are usually made at various levels of the management are guided by the right evidence. Evidence-based decision-making facilitates change as it ensures that the essential values and practices upheld by a business entity are adequately protected for the future (Rutti, Garcia, and Helms, 2021). Another essential evidence that justifies the need to implement horizon scanning is attributed to the fact that it provides the essential information which can enable the management to have a comprehensive understanding of their business environment. A proper understanding of the business environment is then associated with the formulation of sound strategies that can have a positive effect on the success of the business (Büyüközkan, Mukul, and Kongar, 2021). An improvement in the business operations is bound to enhance the levels of profit margins leading to the overall growth of the business entity.
Steps conducted in the horizontal scanning
The horizontal scanning process usually takes place through a series of stages. These stages document the specific activities that are required to happen at all levels to ensure that the sustainability of the business is adequately maintained. The future focus management process extensively relies on a proper understanding of the present situation as it has been proven to be predictive of the future.
Gathering the essential information relating to the business environment is the first stage of the future focus management for sustainability. Proper understanding of the business environment allows the management to identify the threats, opportunities, and the strength of a given business entity (Sutherland, Warwick, and Anderson, 2019). Proper understanding of these key issues is bound to enable the management to come up with appropriate strategies that can make the business to be sustainable in its operations (Bini, Bellucci, and Giunta, 2018). The Analysis of these factors should not only involve the internal factors but also the examination of the extent to which the external factors affect the sustainability of specific businesses. Business trends have also been proven to be predictive of the future (Lin, Guo, Wen, and Zhang, 2019). The assessment of these key aspects is expected to provide vital information concerning the direction that the business has taken. In a situation where the management may feel that the current trends are not revealing any positive growth in the business, they may opt to make drastic changes in the management process to ensure that the business becomes sustainable (Salter, Salandra, and Walker, 2017). Proper understanding of this key stage of the scanning process can be conducted through research. Research is a crucial aspect that usually examines a specific aspect of a phenomenon. Thus, through the examination of these trends through the process of research, the business entity can manage to attain positive outcomes as far as sustainability is concerned.
The stage of analysis is another critical aspect of the scanning process as it provides accurate information regarding the status of the company and the business environment. In business management, the use of accurate information in the decision-making process is usually associated with an improvement in its overall performance. Thus, upon successful research of both the market as well as the internal affairs in a given company, the availed information can be utilized in the management process to upgrade various elements of the operations in the company (Mogaji, Czarnecka, and Danbury, 2018). The final element of this criteria involves the formulation of appropriate policies that would ensure that people at various levels in the company put in place appropriate measures that would make the business maintain its capacity to make the required profits through some of the products and services that are availed to the customers (Hussain, Salia and Karim, 2018). The management of business entities extensively relies on the creation of essential policies (Walker, Fenton, Salter, and Salandra, 2019). Some of these policies usually ensure that the operations in a given business entity are carried out in a manner that prevents the adverse effects of uncertain occurrences that may have profound negative implications on the performance of the business.
Axis of uncertainty
The drivers of future changes usually create different types of uncertainty. These different forms of uncertainty resulting from the fact that the business environment is surrounded by several factors whose effects may be hard to predict. The inability to predict the actual outcomes which can arise from the specific attributes of the existing factors is what causes the levels of uncertainty (Ahir, Bloom, and Furceri, 2018). Therefore, appropriate knowledge of these key issues in the business environment can have an overall positive effect on the attainment of high levels of sustainability in a given business adventure.
Focal issue
The assessment of the focal issues is the first step of the analysis of uncertainty in the business operations. The assessment of the focal issue aids in the identification of the exact challenge which threatens the sustainability of business entities in the future. The first question that is usually addressed at this level is what the future of companies will be like after some time. The stated question creates a chance where the management at various levels of operations can get the right understanding of some of the challenges that their businesses are bound to face in the future (F...