They might have explored, for example, how companies might restructure their activities, deliver new services, interact with each other in new ways and create new demand for online business services. They might also have developed an alternative in which new markets for internet services and new kinds of telephony challenged the then-dominant network architecture. Such a scenario would have at least given the decision-makers a sense of the internet's potential, prompted them to take the decision more seriously and perhaps have led to a very different conclusion. Not only are scenarios useful in making specific decisions, they also encourage decision-makers to become much more sensitive to new signals of change. What has not been foreseen is unlikely to be seen in time.
Scenarios can serve to train decision-makers to recognise signals in a timely way.
Another example shows how scenarios can provide a framework for thinking, a means of sifting through the information deluge for the facts of real consequence. Several years ago, a sophisticated technology company began looking at the future of some of its key technologies and its research and development strategies. In workshops designed to facilitate this process, discussions ranged over the potential of fuel cells, biotechnology extending human life and nano-technology. The participating group of senior technical executives mostly dismissed the potential of these new areas. However, they did develop multiple scenarios that looked at the interplay of technical developments and market acceptance.