The world is experiencing significant, largely economic and sociotechnical, induced change. These induced changes are meaningful with a function ofpeople taking collective actions around common beliefs. These chang- es are more than jargon, cliché, and hyperbole, and they are effecting major transformations. These transforma- tionswill impact onhowhuman resources are developed, andwe need to be able to forecast its effects. In order to produce such forecasts, Human Resource Development needs to become more predictive - to develop the ability to understand how human capital systems and organizations will behave in future. As part of a multi-phase, mixed methods study design based on systems and complexity theories to identify skill needs for the emerging agrifood nanotechnology sector, a strategic flexibility analysis (SFA) was conducted. Strategic Flexibility Frame- work (SFF) is a scenario analysis tool and its use in this study is based on the idea that Business Leaders, Man- agers, Educators and Human Resource Development professionals require flexibility to adjust decisions within given constraints. This paper describes the use of strategic flexibility analysis and the qualitative systems ap- proaches as tools for systems research and it implications for human resources development and management