The upside of disruption: Understanding the VUCA world - Part 2 of 4

Rasheed Mohamad

March 05, 2024

The VUCA from events in 2020 led to a worldwide disruption in supply chains and logistics that ALE successfully navigated.

Since 2020, we have witnessed a number of unforeseen events, like a global pandemic, the war in Ukraine and extreme weather events. Out of this turmoil has come a new concept coined VUCA -- Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity – as well as a worldwide disruption in supply chains and logistics and other business challenges. 

Like many companies, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise found itself facing new and pressing circumstances that, if navigated poorly, could have had significant consequences for our business, teams, partners and customers. 

In my first post “Tackle challenges with a business intelligence strategy,” I shared an overview of ALE's situation during this period of time and how we seized opportunity in the face of disruption. Today, I will get into more detail about this key concept of VUCA.

What is VUCA?

Essentially, VUCA is what we have been living through the past three years – the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity that are the painful outcomes of multiple global crises including:

• Geopolitical conflicts: leading to a lack of cooperation, and disruption in production and trade

• Economic pressures: from inflation, recession, and an energy crisis

• Weather and health crises: causing factory shutdowns, port delays, freight availability and a surge in prices

• Electronic component shortages: resulting in long lead times, even with more recent improvements

• Increased ESG scrutiny: including the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (Scope 3) which extends emissions compliance to include activities from assets not owned or controlled by the organisation

At ALE, we were particularly affected by factory shutdowns, difficulty securing freight, price increases and component shortages. To be honest, at times it felt like we were living through a nightmare! Despite this, we persisted in looking for opportunities – even during the hardest times.

In my next blog in this series, I’ll discuss the opportunities we seized and the approach we took to successfully navigate through VUCA.

In the meantime, you can watch me discuss this subject at the Deliver Americas event, held this past September in Las Vegas.