Corporate foresight can support the strategic management of innovation by delivering long term orientation, guiding the idea creation process and support decision making to enter new technological development projects. While companies use foresight projects for a many years, little systematic knowledge is available about the effects, impacts and best practise of foresight activities. Empirical studies have shown, for instance, that foresight activities are organised rather emergent than on basis of assured academic knowledge. Indeed, companies lack sufficient method and organisational integration know-how (e.g. Becker 2002). The presentation develops propositions for the successful organisation and implementation of corporate foresight projects and its deployment in innovation management.

1. Making Use of Corporate Foresight
Lessons learnt from Industrial Practise
Djordje Pinter and Karl-Heinz Leitner
XXV ISPIM Conference,
Dublin, Ireland: 8-11 June 2014
Djordje Pinter | Research Fellow | Innovation Systems Department
Research, Technology and Innovation Policy Unit

2. Motivation and Research Questions
1. Motivation
• Increasing corporate challenges due to more dynamics and
complexity; e.g. the reduction of product cycles
• The need for a corporate foresight capability to manage future
uncertainties is widely acknowledged.
2. Research Gap
• Little knowledge is established about the effects, impacts and best
practise of foresight activities (e.g. Wilkinson and Kuplers, 2013)
• Little conceptual work is published for theory building and testing of
corporate foresight (e.g. Paliokaitė & Pačėsa 2014)
3. Research Questions
• What is known about the effects and impacts of foresight activities?
• Which propositions regarding corporate foresight can be developed
by integrating literature from foresight methodology, change
management, concept of champions, dynamic capabilities and
innovation theories like disruptive technologies?

3. Design and Methodology
• Analysing publications
Propositions
Best practises Interdependencies
with authentic
description
• 26 case studies
considered
• Emphasis on the use of
scenario planning and
development (not
solely)
Literature Review
Effects Frameworks
Aims
 Dachverbände
Case Study Analysis
• Analysing conceptual
publications
• Fields:
• Strategic management
• Innovation
management
• Organisational
foresight and
methodology

4. Selected Cases

5. Corporate Foresight – Towards a Definition?
• Saying something about the future for the means of corporate decision
making (van der Heijden, 2004).
• A set of approaches for bringing longer-term considerations into corporate
decision-making (Miles et al. 2008).
• Deals with the identification of weak signals to recognize threats and
opportunities (Rohrbeck et al., 2007).
A strategic capability that refers to a function, process, method, technique or
activity within an organisational that systematically aims to support longer-term
decision making. This is by identifying, thinking and debating potential
developments of the future and creating responses to shape the future.

6. What are the Aims of Corporate Foresight Activities?
Clustered findings
1. Assess the future (e.g. identify changes, anticipate specific treats).
2. Systemic changes (e.g. Identify elements, forces of change).
3. Challenge existing beliefs.
4. Test and develop strategies.
5. Decision making support.
6. Foster and Develop new ideas.
7. Develop and achieve a coherent
vision of the future and align thinking.
8. Individual and organisational Learning.
Organisation
Industry
Global
Environment

7. Selected Effects and Impacts
1. Corporate foresight activities increase the ability to anticipate
changes (e.g. anticipating political, environmental and
economic results).
2. Corporate foresight activities foster new ideas and products
(e.g. Identifying new businesses opportunities/markets).
3. Corporate foresight activities can save costs.
4. Corporate foresight activities support organisational learning.
5. Corporate foresight activities support communication.
6. Corporate foresight activities enhance strategic thinking.

8. Developed Propositions I
 Proposition 1: A linkage between the integration of foresight activities
into organisational structures and strategic planning has an impact on
the success of implementing strategies based on foresight activities.
 Proposition 2: The effect of organisational integration of foresight
processes is stronger than the effect of detail and method sophistication.
 Proposition 3: Process and project management are of vital importance
of the success of foresight activities.
 Proposition 4: The assessment of different developments (scenarios) and
generation of new ideas levels the probability to develop disruptive
technologies.
 Proposition 5: Organisational champions have a key role for the
execution and success of corporate foresight activities.

9. Developed Propositions II
 Proposition 6: A balanced use of methods has a positive impact on the
acceptance and integration of foresight results
 Proposition 7: The level of elaboration is more important than the level
of participation within foresight activities during an earlier foresight
process stage.
 Proposition 8: An explicit stage aiming to transfer and communicate the
findings from foresight project is crucial for the successful adoption and
communication of foresight results.
 Proposition 9: Foresight activities that are able to address and process
firm’s present changes and concerns as well as future developments show
a higher acceptance.

10. Summary
 Need for an elaboration and differentiation of a corporate
foresight definition against familiar fields as e.g. strategic or
change management etc.
 Case studies show a very broad use and purpose of foresight
activities and effects from strategic to operative level
including concepts as e.g. organisational learning, change
management to strategic decision making.
 Derived propositions capture these impacts by integrating
existing literature and form groundwork for testing.

11. AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
Comments and contact is welcome
Djordje Pinter
Austrian Institute of Technology
Foresight & Policy Development
Djordje.pinter.fl@ait.ac.at