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

The Role of Strategic Foresight on Dynamic Capabilities

Purpose: Strategic Foresight (SF) is required for an organization in facing Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity environment to maintain relevant in future. Recently, researchers have argued that strategic planning (SP) can be considered a dynamic capability (DC) in organizations. Thus the purpose of this Paper is investigate the role of Strategic Foresight on Dynamic Capabilities of firms. Methodology: This theoretical effort presents a brief review and argues that Strategic Foresight is one of the micro-foundations of Dynamic Capabilities because it supports the seizing and continuous alignment of assets and resources. Under this perspective, SF has a role in the development and implementation of all organizational DCs and is not restricted to a DC specifically. Findings: The results show that strategic foresight is effective in creating dynamic capabilities. Originality/Value: Although scholars generally agree that companies require dynamic capabilities to flexibly respond to and shape uncertain environments, only little empirical research has been conducted on the factors that facilitate the development of these capabilities. This study addresses this gap and introduces strategic foresight as an important antecedent of firms’ dynamic capabilities

The Role of Knowledge Management in Fortifying Foresight

The knowledge management practices within the strategic foresight process are as varied as the foresight practitioners that apply them. If foresight as a discipline is to continue to lay stake as a strong and worthy practice in the realm of business and management, foresighters will need to bring consistency to their knowledge management practices. It is the purpose of this study to shed light on what tools are used for knowledge management throughout the strategic foresight process. Through our research using a literature review and 15 semistrucutred interviews of strategic foresight practitioners, we identified and noted the tools that are more commonly used and how they are applied for knowledge management within the strategic foresight process. By identifying the tools used and aligning them with knowledge management theory, we then illustrated the foresight process, the tools and the knowledge management process using a process map, giving way to the formulation of recommendations in an attempt to create a more efficient and robust strategic foresight process. These recommendations will be most useful to foresight practitioners used to working in teams as they focus on organisational and collaborative knowledge management challenges

The Mediating Effect of Dynamic Capabilities on the Relationship Between Strategic Foresight and Strategic Renewal: Evidence from Islamic Banks in Jordan

Purpose: The present study aimed to examine the mediating effect that dynamic capabilities may have on the relationship between strategic foresight and strategic renewal.   Design/methodology/ approach: The present study relied on quantitative and qualitative methods. More specifically, the authors used a cross-sectional design and survey strategy. Three hundred and three participants were selected randomly from four Islamic banks operating in Jordan completed the study questionnaire. A structural equation modeling technique was employed to test the study hypotheses by using SmartPLS 3 software package.   Findings: The results demonstrated that strategic foresight and dynamic capabilities have a significant and positive effect on strategic renewal. Also, the results illustrated that the dynamic capabilities have a partial mediating effect on the relationship between strategic foresight and strategic renewal.   Research limitations: The results of the present study relate to Islamic banks in Jordan; hence the ability to generalize the findings to other sectors is limited. Another limitation is respondent bias because the study design relies heavily on the participants’ perceptions.   Practical implementation: Used properly, strategic foresight allows managers to see how events in the external environment influence their organizations’ performance. Thus, managers can use strategic foresight for making corrections in plans, policies, strategies, and objectives to get performance back on track using their organizations’ dynamic capabilities.   Originality: Despite the amount of research and studies that have been devoted to understanding strategic foresight, dynamic capabilities, and strategic renewal over the last decades, the relationship between these three constructs has never been studied collectively. Therefore, the present study fills this gap in the literature

Empirical Differences between UAE and Finland of Strategic Foresight Implementation

Strategic foresight is a structured and systematic way of using ideas to anticipate and better prepare for change in the future. Therefore, the main aim of the study is to ascertain whether there is difference between UAE and Finland strategic foresights implementation. This study employed quantitative methodology where questionnaire was used as a means for data collection. The data was analysed using SPSS software to ascertain the difference between the means across the strategic foresight dimensions between the two countries. The result findings revealed that that there is statistically significant difference between UAE and Finland’s in the areas of Information use and method sophistication of the two countries’ strategic foresights. Specifically, UAE and Finland differs on information use in their strategic foresights. Similarly, the two countries differ on method sophistication in their strategic foresight. However, there is no significant difference between UAE and Finland on people and network, organisation and culture in their strategic foresights. This specify that the respondents from Finland and UAE had agreed almost similar factors in strategic foresight for the public policy making. Hence if taking Finland as a benchmark, the results indicate that UAE is also having the same interest in strategic foresight implementation

Evolution Cum Agency: Toward a Model of Strategic Foresight

This study examines the origin of the strategic innovation that changed the face of financial services—Charles Merrill’s financial supermarket business model—through three well-known and largely juxtaposed conceptual models of strategic foresight. Our study, whose purpose, business historical focus, and structure mirrors Graham Allison’s famous “Conceptual Models of the Cuban Missile Crisis,” allows us to make three contributions. First, it sharpens our understanding of the models we used in the study. Second, it provides the foundations of an integrated view and model of strategic foresight that suggests disciplined strategic foresight is possible, understandable, and replicable within some precise boundaries. Finally, it suggests directions for future behavioral strategy work

Strategisk omvärldsanalys vid myndigheter

This paper analyses strategic foresight (omvärldsanalys) in Swedish government authorities and asks questions on the scope, rationale and drivers, organisation, functions, results and content in reports, methods and theories, and importance. The answers to these questions pinpoint the phenomenon of strategic foresight. They provide also the basis for answering more fundamental questions: What is the advantage of strategic foresight in government authorities? Are there differences in benefits between authorities, and what can be said about quality? It is argued that benefits vary with the organization, activities and tasks, quality and position in the organization. Management behaviour is a key factor. Strategic foresight has specific procedures similar to research, and has gained in importance as interpreter of societal change and the future. One explanation could be an increased need for rapid analysis of change since uncertainty is perceived as a growing problem.Strategic foresight; Swedish government authorities; Management behaviour; Societal change; Future; Analysis of change; Uncertainty

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

The mediating role of strategic foresight in the relationship between financial knowledge and strategic responses

This study aimed to clarify the mediating role of strategic foresight in its various forms (foresight, acumen, research) in the relationship between financial knowledge and strategic response in its dimensions (resource liquidity, business maturity, reactiveness and reactivity). To achieve this goal, this study was based on the descriptive analytical method, where the questionnaire was used to collect the primary data. (220) questionnaires were distributed to workers in the branches of commercial banks in the middle Euphrates cities (40) branches and (215) were retrieved from them. The results revealed that the adoption of financial knowledge enabled the organization, the study sample, to respond effectively to environmental dynamics through strategic foresight. Moreover, it was revealed that organizations that used financial knowledge were able to maximize their core competencies through strategic foresight, and thus provided added value to services efficiently over their competitors