ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is the classic example of a ‘Wicked Problem’ that has no immediate solution, is unique, and one that conventional processes fail to tackle. The retail industry worldwide has succumbed to the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19. Robinsons in Singapore and Debenhams in the United Kingdom are just two examples of iconic stores that have joined the long list of well-known retailers called into administration due the sever impact of the pandemic. So what lessons can future leaders learn from this turn of events? In this chapter, the author proposes the foremost lesson for retail leaders will be to revisit existing approaches on risk assessment and consider alternative approaches to develop resiliency from future shocks. An approach worth considering is that of scenario planning which offers a step-by-step framework to engage with wicked problems, raise plausible, counterintuitive questions about the future from the vantage point of the present and challenge a retail executive's fundamental assumption about their businesses.
In this chapter, the author proposes three plausible, challenging and relevant retail scenarios for a Post-COVID world using the steps of the scenario planning process. The three scenarios pertain to a hyper-tech world, a green world and an insular world. Each scenario raises some fundamental “what-if” questions about how the retail industry would evolve in those future scenarios with new rules of the game. Insights on the new rules of the game in each future scenario create a “future safe space” within which retail leaders can rethink the role of their organisation and revisit, question and challenge their current business assumptions.
