STRATEGIC PLANNING AS A SUPPORTING TOOL TO DETERMINE MILITARY CAPABILITIES

Abstract

Planning by scenarios, also called prospective, is of great value in high turbulent and volatile environments, as is today, because it permits to visualize the future from a spectrum of possibilities. That visualization is strategic information that provides a competitive edge and facilitates the identification of possible threats in each scenario and in front of those threats determines the required capacities needed. Therefore, prospective planning is an indispensable tool for decision making and determining military capacities. The scenario spectrum could consider an infinite number; however, for a strategic analysis it is basic to visualize at least three options: an optimist, a pessimist, and a tendency. To determine the military capacities, it is a required minimum to consider the traditional and non-traditional threats, as well as “foreseeable” and “feasible” capacities. The present article provides a global vision of prospective planning and its relationship with determining military capacities.