Strategic Foresight in multinational enterprises – a case study on the Deutsche Telekom Laboratories

Strategic Foresight activities enable companies to use weak signals to identify opportunities and threats. Research on Strategic Foresight proposes different methods, discusses their implementation and gives recommendations on how to link Strategic Foresight with other functions in an organization. Based on a literature review, we define a generic framework for the management of Strategic Foresight activities on the strategic, tactical and operational level and identify and discuss actors, methods and systems of Strategic Foresight. Building on an in-depth case study of the Deutsche Telekom Laboratories we shed light on the implementation of Strategic Foresight activities. In the discussion we focus on the interaction of methods from Consumer Foresight and Technology Intelligence. Taking an example project, we explore how Strategic Foresight is used on the operational level of innovation management. We conclude that Strategic Foresight can successfully contribute to coping with uncertainty and complexity and can feed the front-end of innovation from the market (customer needs) and technology (realization opportunities) perspective.strategic foresight; consumer foresight; technology foresight; technology intelligence; market foresight; trend analysis; future studies; future analysis; telecommunication industry

Corporate Foresight : A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research trajectories

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Final Recommendations towards a Methodology for Technology Watch at EU Level: STACCATO Deliverable 2.2.1

As part of the PASR 2006 supporting activity STACCATO an investigation into a European ¿Technology Watch¿ for security was conducted using amongst other means an expert workshop. This activity was run in parallel to the competence mapping of the security industry and academia of Europe which resulted in a database and separate report (STACCATO Deliverable 2.1.1). Primary tasks for the technology watch could be 1: policy support: i.e. identifying security areas/topics in need of greater European focus and feedback on outcome of enacted policy; 2: ¿technology warning¿, monitoring emerging technologies for possible side effects detrimental to societal security; 3. technology transfer support, particularly for SME¿s since they are generally not capable of fielding their own technology watch efforts. A Technology watch effort should be based on one or more already existing stakeholder networks of established European actors in the security arena ¿ a ¿club of the willing¿, containing at least 10 actors from both industry and academia. Such an organisation would need to be relied upon to be neutral and impartial, thus the work process must be fully transparent and open to scrutiny, i.e. with all conclusions traceable to their individual sources. The organisation and supporting processes need to promote speed and flexibility, in particular in order to help accelerate the standardisation process of emerging technologies and solutions.JRC.G.6-Security technology assessmen

Catalysts for regional development: putting territorial coordination in practice

Lack of coordination among agencies at project level and scarce promotion of contracts at micro-scale are critical gaps widely spread in many Latin American regions. We discuss some specific and feasible mechanisms, namely: (i) alliances for rural development and (ii) contract promoters; that may play a catalytic role to deal with the mentioned problems. Based on a continuous improving integral strategy and an effective operative framework, these alliances would be prone to unveil areas for interventions and to channel them into the pipelines of the ministries, financing agencies or private investor initiatives. These alliances can assist in solving tradeoffs between enough economies of scale for enhancing capabilities and sufficient local knowledge. Also, they might reduce capture problems. Contract promoters on the other hand, can be viewed as facilitators for startup businesses. They evolve as enterprise incubators, with expertise for rural areas, projects and marketing; combined with a vision for development. Both catalysts have a synergetic effect for coordinating regional development and should be prominent in rural modernization agendas.Rural development, Catalyst, Experimental, Promoter, Local Governance, Applied Political Economy

Entrepreneurial Orientation and Product Innovation Performance of MSMEs in West Java: Foresight Capabilities as a Mediating Variable

MSMEs have become the foundation for growth in various countries, including Indonesia. Especially in West Java, MSMEs play an essential role in absorbing labour. However, MSMEs in West Java face an uncertain business environment and difficulties in creating products that suit market needs. This research will use the Resource Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capability View (DCV) theories. This research examines the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on the innovation performance of MSMEs by using foresight capabilities as a mediating variable. 245 MSMEs were collected as respondents to fill out the survey questionnaire. The MSMEs used in this research are from West Java, with the main characteristics of operating for more than one year and developing new products for at least two years. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the research framework. It was found that entrepreneurial orientation can influence the innovation performance of MSMEs positively and significantly. The influence of foresight capabilities on MSME product innovation performance has a positive effect. The mediating effect of foresight capabilities on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and product innovation performance was partially mediated. MSMEs that behave more entrepreneurially benefit from being more proactive, innovative, and risk-taking in an uncertain market environment. Product innovation can be achieved through a good understanding of entrepreneurial orientation mediated by an understanding of Foresight to process information for future decisions. Finally, managerial and theoretical implications and future research are presented

Using urban foresight techniques in city visioning: lessons from the Reading 2050 vision

The emergence of urban (or city) foresight techniques focuses on the need to create coherent city visions to plan and manage for future long-term change and create opportunities for new investment into the local urban economy. This paper reviews the concepts of ‘co-created’ city visioning and urban foresight, setting this in the context of new and emerging practice and policy in the UK, and elsewhere. The paper critically reviews the development of the vision for a small city (the ‘Reading 2050’ project, linked to the UK Future of Cities Foresight Programme), and the lessons it holds for visioning, foresight and planning, using the ‘quadruple helix’ framework as a conceptual lens for analysis

Corporate foresight: A bibliometric analysis on research trends

The pressure on companies, influenced by the rapid dissemination of technological innovations increased the volatility of business environments making difficult for companies to decide and act when faced with market uncertainties. Corporate foresight (CF) is a fundamental management tool, which has been object of study in recent decades. CF enables companies to achieve better market position, sustainable profits and ultimately provides competitive advantages in the medium/long term, while also dealing positively with uncertainty. This research aims to identify investigate trends in CF based on previous studies. From a query created in Web of Science (WoS), we obtained our initial data sample, comprised between the period 2001 to 2021. Thus, allowing us to study the frequency of publications and total citations, as well as descriptively study journals, authors, keywords, and references. We then carried out a bibliometric analysis using CiteSpace software to study research patterns and trends. The results of the bibliometric analysis suggest a progressive interest in open foresight and the opportunity for new explanatory research as a method for understanding and validating corporate foresight.A pressão influenciada pela célere disseminação das inovações tecnológicas aumentou a imprevisibilidade dos ambientes de negócio dificultando as capacidades de decisão e de atuação das empresas, quando confrontadas com incertezas de mercado. Corporate foresight (CF) é um instrumento de gestão fundamental, que tem sido objeto de estudo nas últimas décadas. O CF capacita as empresas com melhores posições de mercado e lucros sustentáveis lidando também com a incerteza o que e proporciona vantagens competitivas a médio-longo prazo. Este estudo tem como objetivo identificar tendências de investigação sobre CF tendo como base estudos anteriores. A partir de uma query criada no Web of Science (WoS) obtivemos a nossa amostra inicial de dados, compreendida entre o período de 2001 a 2021. Assim foi-nos permitido estudar a frequência de publicações e citações totais bem como, analisar descritivamente jornais, autores, palavras-chaves e referências. Posteriormente realizámos uma análise bibliométrica utilizando o software CiteSpace para examinar padrões e tendências de investigação. Os resultados da análise bibliométrica sugerem um progressivo interesse em open foresight e a oportunidade de novas investigações explanatórias como instrumento de compreensão e validação do corporate foresight