Reference no: EM131531810

It has been widely said that the only thing you can be sure about when it comes to the future is change. Samuel Clemons also suggested in a similar vein "if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute, it'll change."

1. If a firm is going to prosper in the future it is going to need to be able to innovate. How should a firm go about ensuring that they will remain competitive and better yet, a leader into the future? What steps do they need to take to ensure that they will be successful?

2. Once something is a trend, it is too late. What are the dangers and assumptions behind benchmarking, and how do they impair/impede a firm's ability to innovate? How does an organization fight the tendencies of isomorphism?  

3. Why is planning so important to a firm? If the environment is so dynamic, as everyone contends, then why do we spend so much time planning? Maybe there is a better way. Develop a process whereby an organization will be able to plan its future, and simultaneously, not get itself mired in the rigid and inflexible processes that result from planning. 

4. How has technology revolutionized and changed the way we do business? What will be the next, great technological revolution, and what impact will it have on the future of business?