Organizing strategic foresight: A contextual practice of 'way finding'

Sarpong, David; Maclean, Mairi; Alexander, Elizabeth

Abstract

Strategic foresight as a derived outcome of corporate foresight exercises has led to the dominant discourse on strategic foresight as an episodic intervention encompassing a proliferation of organizational foresight methodologies. We argue that such an approach is flawed, consigning strategic foresight to a narrow function in a planning perspective. To move the field into more fertile pastures for research, we draw on the practice theoretical lens to provide an alternative viewpoint on strategic foresight as a bundle of everyday organizing practices. In keeping with the practice approach to strategic foresight, we delineate strategic foresight as a continuous and contextual practice of 'wayfinding', that manifest in everyday situated organizing. We offer an integrating framework that contributes to the ongoing discussions about alternative approaches to theorizing strategic foresight. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2013
• Journal: Futures
• Print ISSN: 0016-3287
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 53
• Pages: 33-41
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2013.09.001
• Keywords: strategic foresight, social practice, scenario planning, strategic planning
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/928713
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2013.09.001