1. Explain in your own words why it is important in some situations to consider future deci sions as well as the immediate decision at hand. Can you give an example from your own experience of an occasion in which you had to make a decision while explicitly anticipat ing a subsequent decision? How did the immediate decision affect the subsequent one?
2. Sometimes broadening the decision context can change the planning horizon. For exam ple, many companies face specific technical problems. Framed in a narrow decision context, the question is how to solve the specific problem, and a reasonable solution may be to hire a consultant. On the other hand, if the decision context is broadened to include solving related problems as well as the current one, the company might want to develop in-house expertise by hiring one or more permanent employees or training an existing employee in the required skills. What is the planning horizon in each case, and why does it change with the broader context? What objectives must be considered in the broader context that can be ignored in the narrower one?