Background Information

• “All right,” the Lord said to Satan, “everything he has is in your power, but you must not hurt Job himself.” (Job 1:12, NIV)
• “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)

Instructions

1. We are asked by our supervisors, peers, and work team to develop plans for success. We invest significant time and energy in finding and reviewing data, and manipulating spreadsheets and charts and graphs to forecast the future so we think we know what will happen. This course and many others train you on how to perform those analyses.
2. The course author was once managing a sales team and asked a common question to one of its members, “How much will you sell next year?” The man, an openly devout Christian, quickly responded, “Whatever God brings to me.” While the author did not disagree that it could happen, he responded back, “OK but God expects you to do your part, so how much are you going to try to sell?” The salesperson was not prepared for that question and walked away with a strange look on his face.
3. In this module, you submit the revised final draft of your internal and external marketing environments report. That report will – or should – include significant analysis of external elements, factors, and pressures that are outside of your client’s control but may have a substantial impact on their plans. We say that analysis is art and science, that science is finding the numbers and art is interpreting them. If there is so much that we cannot control, and we believe that God is in control, can we expect our plans to be valid? We see in the Book of Job that God’s faithful servant lost it all through a series of unexpected and unforeseen events including two natural disasters (lightning and wind). In a few hours, these two unpredictable and indefensible calamities and two attacks by enemies erased all of Job’s success after many years of planning and implementation. Then we are told in Jeremiah that God has good plans for us, almost suggesting that since He has plans for us, we don’t need any plans, that it’s already taken care of.
4.  Consider these questions and post your thoughts on them for the industry: Biodegradable plastic bags
   1. How much can and should a company in your industry of interest plan or how much should it’s management team rely on letting God do it all?
   2. What are some unpredictable and indefensible calamities that might affect your industry of interest?
   3. How is it our responsibility as a manager or leader in that industry of interest to do everything we can to plan when external events beyond our control can have such a significant negative impact on our plans?