Scenario Planning in Supply Chain Management

Abstract

This thesis presents a summary of the academic literature on scenario planning, and more specifically looks at the available literature on scenario planning from a supply chain management perspective, aiming to answer the research question: what does scenario planning look like in the context of supply chain management. Scenario planning is a strategic decision making process, where organizations aim to prepare for uncertainty in the future by developing a range of alternative futures and signposts that may indicate a development of the operational environment towards that future. In the context of supply chain management, scenario planning is quite fast paced and short-term oriented, contrasted with the more long-term planning perspective associated generally with scenario planning. This is achieved partly through digitalization and the introduction of collaborative scenario planning, where organizations work together with outside stakeholders to share information.