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1 – 10 of over 234000
Article
Publication date: 1 June 2004

Alexander Fink, Andreas Siebe and Jens‐Peter Kuhle

To survive and grow in an era of uncertainty, companies should strive not only for a single visionary view, which most likely corresponds with their expectations, but instead they…

2938

Abstract

To survive and grow in an era of uncertainty, companies should strive not only for a single visionary view, which most likely corresponds with their expectations, but instead they should try to acquire multiple views that describe the whole ”window of opportunities”. The development of external market scenarios to assess current strategies is the usual way of coping with these uncertainties. Today this traditional scenario approach has to be extended in four directions: the use of market scenarios to systematically develop future‐robust strategies, the use of alternative strategy scenarios to address uncertainties within an organization, the use of scenarios as a basis for strategic early warning processes and the combination of performance measurement and strategic early warning in a scenario‐based future scorecard. In conclusion it is shown that scenarios could significantly help to bridge the gap between strategy implementation and early‐warning processes.

Details

Foresight, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6689

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 March 2020

Itzhak Gnizy

While big data (BD), a transformative emerging phenomenon on its youth, plays a growing role in organizations in improving marketing decision-making, few academic works examine…

2324

Abstract

Purpose

While big data (BD), a transformative emerging phenomenon on its youth, plays a growing role in organizations in improving marketing decision-making, few academic works examine the mechanism through which BD can be applied to guide future competitive advantage strategies. The purpose of this paper is to examine if BD’s predictive power helps business to business (B2B) firms selecting their intended generic (differentiation, focus, and cost leadership) strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on the learning theory, the study proposes the use of BD as a key driver of intended strategies. Based on data from a cross-industry sample of executives, a conceptual model is tested using path and robustness analyses.

Findings

The use of BD plays a prominent role in the selection of intended future strategies in industrial markets. Additional tests demonstrate conditions of competitive intensity and strategic flexibility where BD is more and less beneficial.

Research limitations/implications

The study furthers the understanding of traditional learning and intelligence use frameworks and of contemporary future strategies drivers.

Practical implications

BD availability enables managers leveraging knowledge embedded in data-rich systems to gain predictive insights that help in guiding new strategic directions to maintain competitive advantage.

Originality/value

The study reinforces the continued applicability of Porter’s generic positioning strategies in the digital era. It addresses the paucity of research on BD in B2B context and is the first to provide theoretical and practical reflections on how BD utilization influences industrial intended strategies. The study strengthens contemporary managerial views defending that data drive strategies rather than the opposite.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 35 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2005

Alexander Fink, Bernard Marr, Andreas Siebe and Jens‐Peter Kuhle

The purpose of this paper is to provide a new and systematic approach towards strategic foresight by combining traditional external scenarios (market‐based approach) with internal…

7443

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a new and systematic approach towards strategic foresight by combining traditional external scenarios (market‐based approach) with internal scenarios (resource‐based approach) into a future scorecard, which can be used to describe alternative internal development paths for an organization.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper builds on the existing literature as well as on multiple case examples to illustrate the application of the future scorecard.

Findings

The findings of this paper are that it is possible to combine the external (market‐based) and internal (resource‐based) view to create a strategic early warning system.

Practical implications

The implications for practitioners are twofold, first, the paper outlines the importance of integrating a future perspective into performance measurement systems, second, it demonstrates the applicability of scenario thinking for the internal resource‐based view of the firm.

Originality/value

The paper combines thinking of the market‐based and the resource‐based view of the firm in order to provide a new tool to supplement most static measurement approaches with a tool that monitors the future developments – externally and internally. Scenarios are traditionally used to describe possible alternative future developments in the external environment, which then inform current strategy assessment and future strategy development. However, with a shift in focus away from the market‐based paradigm and towards a resource‐based view of strategy, scenarios can also be used to describe alternative internal development paths for an organization. These two types of scenarios can then be systematically developed and combined to form a significant element of a strategic early warning system – the future scorecard.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 43 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 December 2023

Margie Foster, Hossein Arvand, Hugh T. Graham and Denise Bedford

This chapter applies strategic thinking and four-futures approach to developing a knowledge preservation and curation strategy. The authors explain how using the four futures as a…

Abstract

Chapter Summary

This chapter applies strategic thinking and four-futures approach to developing a knowledge preservation and curation strategy. The authors explain how using the four futures as a baseline refocuses traditional strategy development from linear projections from the present to complex future situations, options, and choices. The refocus also shifts the end stage from evaluation and judgment to continuous assessments of activities, learning, and refresh. A baseline structure is presented as a model for readers. The authors also discuss operationalizing, assessing, and sustaining a knowledge preservation and curation strategy.

Details

Knowledge Preservation and Curation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-930-7

Book part
Publication date: 1 December 2023

Margie Foster, Hossein Arvand, Hugh T. Graham and Denise Bedford

In this chapter, the authors make the case that preserving and curating knowledge for the future involves more than changing methods and tactics or extending our current…

Abstract

Chapter Summary

In this chapter, the authors make the case that preserving and curating knowledge for the future involves more than changing methods and tactics or extending our current applications and technology to support knowledge capital. It means changing the way we think about the future. It means envisioning multiple futures where various elements may be known or unknown – a four-future quadrant. First, the authors explain what it means to think strategically in multiple known and unknown futures. Next, the chapter presents ideas for strategic thinking about future knowledge preservation and curation. Finally, the authors consider using the four futures to develop a flexible and relevant knowledge preservation and curation strategy.

Details

Knowledge Preservation and Curation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-930-7

Abstract

Details

Responsible Investment Around the World: Finance after the Great Reset
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-851-0

Abstract

Details

Strategizing
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78973-698-4

Article
Publication date: 8 October 2018

Bronwyn Eager, Sharon L. Grant and Alex Maritz

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether descriptions of functional coping strategies among entrepreneurs vary along temporal dimensions, from reactive or present oriented…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether descriptions of functional coping strategies among entrepreneurs vary along temporal dimensions, from reactive or present oriented, to anticipatory or future oriented. Future-oriented coping is largely unexplored in stress and coping studies in the entrepreneurship literature, despite evidence that a future time perspective is advantageous for entrepreneurs.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts an exploratory, qualitative approach: interviews were conducted with 22 entrepreneurs and coping strategies were classified, via thematic analysis, according to function, then time orientation.

Findings

Results confirmed that entrepreneurs’ coping strategies can be classified according to conventional functional taxonomies of coping that emphasize form (affective, behavioral, cognitive) and direction (change, adapt, disengage), but additionally suggested that time orientation may be an important dimension for classifying coping strategies in the entrepreneurship context.

Practical implications

The findings inform the assessment of coping strategies in future research on stress, coping and strain among entrepreneurs. In particular, researchers should assess temporal dimensions of coping alongside the functional dimensions which have been emphasized in past research. Assessment of meaningful dimensions of coping is necessary to identify adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies in future research. Knowledge of adaptive coping strategies among entrepreneurs can inform coping skills interventions for stress resilience.

Originality/value

This study makes a unique contribution to the emergent body of literature on stress and coping among entrepreneurs by utilizing both functional and temporal coping taxonomies to identify relevant dimensions of coping for study in this context.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 26 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 June 2020

Claire-France Picard, Sylvain Durocher and Yves Gendron

This paper investigates the strategic processes surrounding the development, in accounting firms, of office (re)design projects and their overarching objectives.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper investigates the strategic processes surrounding the development, in accounting firms, of office (re)design projects and their overarching objectives.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors’ investigation relies on a series of interviews with individuals from different accounting firms involved in the decision process related to office (re)design projects. A triangular template made up of strategy, space and time informs the analysis, which the authors complement by relying on a strategy-as-practice integrated framework.

Findings

The authors found that accounting firm office (re)design projects are characterized by a strategic spatial agenda that aims to define and create present organizational time, in ways that embed a particular vision of the future. The analysis brings to light the interrelationships between strategy practitioners, strategy practices and strategic work through which the future is actualized. Office design processes involve not only the physical transformation of office space; they also promote a prominent agenda to modify, in the long run, office members' minds. Hence, office (re)design processes may be conceived of as a significant device in the socialization of accounting practitioners.

Research limitations/implications

This study underscores that spatial strategizing constitutes a major device through which the future is brought into the present. As such, the analysis provides insights not only into the processes through which space transformations take place, but also into their underlying agenda. The latter promotes the advent, in present time, of the organic office of the future.

Practical implications

This analysis brings to the fore a concrete illustration of how the strategy-space-time triangle operates in organizational life. The authors underline the key role played by strategists in charge of designing the office of the future.

Originality/value

This study extends the burgeoning literature whose analytical gaze is informed by the strategy, space, and time triangle.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 33 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

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