Advanced
search

To read this content please select one of the options below:

A plea for uncertainty: Everybody complains about uncertainty, but it might be a good thing to have

Bolko von Oetinger (Dr Bolko von Oetinger, senior vice president of the Boston Consulting Group in Munich led the German operations for 11 years and served on the firm’s management and executive committee. He headed BCG’s worldwide marketing operations for three years and in 1998 founded the firm’s Strategy Institute, where BCG has concentrated its research with academic and scientific institutions about the nature of strategy. As director of the Strategy Institute he is closely involved in BCG’s innovation process.)

Journal of Business Strategy

ISSN: 0275-6668

Article publication date: 1 February 2004

922

Abstract

There is no tool that can switch off uncertainty in business. The aim of strategic thinking is thus not to achieve certainty but to prepare us for uncertain times. There are no tools of strategic prudence, but there is an art of careful preparation. If a company is well prepared, and if it is fitter than its competitors – that is, it has excellent people, efficient and effective processes, and the organization works on innovative products – it still needs a deep human characteristic.

Keywords

Citation

von Oetinger, B. (2004), "A plea for uncertainty: Everybody complains about uncertainty, but it might be a good thing to have", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 57-59. https://doi.org/10.1108/02756660410516038

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles

Manage cookies

We’re listening — tell us what you think

Join us on our journey