In today\u27s rapidly changing business environment, small businesses must gain a deeper understanding of the future to develop strategies that will provide them with sustainable competitive advantage. The traditional approaches to strategy formulation are inadequate in an environment that is complex and dynamic. This paper investigates a new approach that helps small businesses see the future. It discusses an application of the multi equilibrium dissipative structures (MEDS) approach to strategy formulation within the context of a small business involved in medical management software development. The dissipative systems approach can be used to evaluate the critical discontinuities that a small business faces in dealing with its changing environment. The approach also provides an opportunity for researchers to further develop theory in strategy formulation in small businesses, especially those directly involved in the rapidly changing areas of global operations and technology innovations
