We are in an era of high volatility and uncertain outcomes, driven by accelerating technologies, shortened product cycles, fast-changing information, an increasingly mobile workforce, more demanding customers, complex financial markets, ad-hoc public policies, and many other factors that add layers of uncertainty to all future possibilities. While most believe that good management requires better prediction of the future and better planning, Gill Eapen instead contends that the best way to manage effectively in an uncertain world is through the conscious application of flexibility - an ability to absorb constantly shifting variables and adapt quickly. Flexibility: Flexible Companies for the Uncertain World explores ways in which organizations can systematically enhance their ability to survive and succeed without the guarantees that come with certainty. In these pages, Eapen details: Specific attributes of status-quo organizations that hinder their capacity for flexibility in their three primary components: structure, systems, and strategies A tool and process for diagnosing flexibility-related problems within an organization Specific actions companies can take to improve flexibility, regardless of their size or age A case study of a technology company progressively losing flexibility due to management actions, as well as a detailed project plan for remedial actions Based on the author's years of experience working with a variety of industries, including life sciences, energy, technology, financial services, and manufacturing, and his expertise in decision options, Flexibility offers a holistic alternative approach for managing risk and making the best decisions possible in these especially uncertain times.

Although uncertainty and flexibility are important attributes that drive the value of an investment, they are seldom systematically considered in traditional financial analysis. Through theory and case studies, Decision Options: The Art and Science of Making Decisions details how uncertainty and flexibility can be evaluated to assist in making better investment decisions in companies. Harnessing the author's own software technology, the book supplies a tool set that enables the incorporation of uncertainty and flexibility in investment decisions up front without being too complex.

After a qualitative introduction to decision options, the author covers private and market risks, including how risks relate to decisions and the use of stochastic processes to represent risks. He then presents self-standing options, such as financial options and options pricing theory; describes how decision options are different from single-standing financial options; and deals with a special case of decision options in pricing employee stock options. The next several chapters focus on various case studies of practical applications of decision options. The book also explores common misperceptions around the term real options and the impediments that currently exist in large companies for the systematic practice of decision options.

Providing rigorous methods to use when making decisions, this book helps readers reduce the time and effort needed to reach decisions and build consensus, improve decision fidelity and communication, and enhance the value of their enterprise.