An approach for strategic planning and asset management in the mining industry in the context of business and operational complexity

Modern mining companies are complex organisations as per their organisational, management and operational structure. They also operate in a complex business and operational environment facing significant uncertainties related to natural, technical, technological, market, organisational, economic, financial, political, etc., influential factors affecting their business, management and operations. Traditional approaches in strategic planning, asset management and decision-making in the mining industry have been unable to adequately grasp and address this complexity. This paper proposes a new approach in the strategic planning and asset management for mining enterprises by analysing them as complex adaptive systems (CAS). The methods of the complexity science may help to better comprehend the complex environment of mining organisations providing more realistic understandings upon it. Thus, we consider that they may be useful in designing an enhanced strategic asset management decision-making framework. The benefits, challenges, as well as recommended future research works and applications in mining are also discussed. © 2015 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.