Planning for the (very) long term

 Hopefully as summer approaches you are looking optimistically into the future, and planning a fun (and not-so-fun) programme to help you achieve your goals. But how far ahead should you plan? Weeks? Months? Years? What about decades?

 Firms face the same dilemma, and it’s worth asking if the best plan is to carefully focus on the next 2-3 years - or some more distant point in the future. Should directors focus on quick results, or on making really big riches for their shareholders several years, or even decades, down the line?

There’s no easy answer to this question, just lots of “it depends” responses (which are the best way of securing evaluation marks). I came across this BBC article with an accompanying video clip that should serve as a good stimulus.

British firms are often accused of underinvestment and failing to make bold predictions about the future. But perhaps that is just being practical, realistic and focussed. Elsewhere, some companies are placing bets on the shape of the world in 100 years, which is ‘ambitious’, to say the least. Yet maybe this boldness of vision is what many firms lack.