The Challenges of the VUCA World in the Development of Sustainable Investment Projects

Abstract

The volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) of the business environment require that investment projects carried out within organizations also include sustainability aspects, in order to maintain a superior competitive position. Investors as well as other stakeholders from organizations are more inclined to companies that implement sustainable investment projects compared to traditional ones for which only profit and financial benefits matter. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to reveal how the rapid and often unfounded changes specific to today's world, the VUCA world influences the way that projects are carried out within organizations. Particular attention was also paid to the way in which organizations implement project-specific activities and sub-activities, in order to ensure sustainable development, even in a crisis situation. In order to achieve these objectives, a bibliometric and systematic analysis of the specialized literature was carried out, analyzing the present studies and articles from the area, that revealed the influence of the VUCA world on the business environment. Thus, this paper aims to present how the VUCA world affects organizations, the effects that complex and rapid organizational changes specific to the VUCA world have on the sustainability of investment projects, the impact of crises of the sustainable development on organizations, the implications of the VUCA world on strategies organizations. Following the analyzes carried out, the results showed that the elements specific to the VUCA world have a great influence on the sustainable development of organizations and, implicitly, on the projects carried out within it.