Management of uncertainty through postponement

Abstract

It has long been recognized that one of the most important tasks for any organization to cope with is uncertainties. However, uncertainty in the business environment has still been the main cause of failure in industry. The paper investigates the role of postponement in the management of uncertainty. The concept of postponement is developed to include product development postponement, purchasing postponement, production postponement and logistics postponement. These postponement strategies are all presented to cope with different levels of uncertainty. Finally, conclusions are drawn and some remarks about further research are made.