The Applicability of Competitive Battles in Scenario Planning

Abstract: Issue of study: Since the World War II scenario planning has existed as a strategic planning tool and during the 1970s Pierre Wack introduced this strategic tool for organisations. Even tough the usage of scenario planning often aims to make better strategic decisions there still does not exist any clear method that is niched towards competition. Therefore a study with the purpose to understand if it is applicable to combine scenario planning together with a theory that regards competition would be interesting to explore. Purpose: Explore the applicability of Christensen et al.’s theory on Competitive Battles in scenario planning. Methodology: A case study has been conducted in collaboration with Tetra Pak®. The case study explores the future within the milk packaging markets in four different geographical locations. A positivistic qualitative approach has been applied within the frame of this thesis and has therefore formed the perspectives of this thesis. The gathered data is mainly based on secondary sources where triangulation has been used in order to secure credible information. Furthermore, the applicability is evaluated based on two fundamentals – the fit between the theories and if a competitive dimension is added. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study is that the applicability of the Competitive Battles theory is limited. In order to integrate the two theories, adjustments were needed in order to integrate the two theories or else the integration would have been crammed. Despite the needed adjustments, the integration adds a competitive dimension in means of an better understanding about what actions the studied competitors are the most likely to conduct in a potential future world.