Title: Foresight process in software businesses

Authors: Leila Saari; Tanja Suomalainen; Raija Kuusela

Addresses: VTT Technological Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Kaitoväylä 1, 90571 Oulu, Finland ' VTT Technological Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Kaitoväylä 1, 90571 Oulu, Finland ' VTT Technological Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Kaitoväylä 1, 90571 Oulu, Finland

Abstract: Corporate foresight is a value-creation tool that enables companies to survive in a competitive, ever-changing business environment. Foresight can be perceived as a company's capability to commit to continuous environmental scanning and respond quickly to discovered market threats and opportunities. This paper presents the results from a multiple-case study, in which data was collected through a series of workshops and interviews. Based on the foresight experiment in one company, it is evident that staff can discover meaningful business opportunities for their company via a facilitated workshop series. As a result of this study, the rolling foresight process is presented. Companies must conduct foresight as a continuous activity to: 1) actively scan the environment, identifying trends in consumer and customer behaviour, industrial trends, disruptions, emerging technologies, competitors, clients' needs, wild cards and weak signals; 2) interpret the identified signals and find opportunities and threats; 3) prospect the opportunities and threats and evaluate options for decision-making.

Keywords: corporate foresight; environmental scanning; innovation; insight; foresight process; foresight methods; workshop; software intensive business; foresight tools.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2019.102192

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2019 Vol.20 No.2, pp.195 - 220

Received: 04 Jul 2017
Accepted: 17 Apr 2018
Published online: 10 Sep 2019 *

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