Table 7 Interview responses for advances/benefits

Shape future

11

Chance to understand existence of several potential futures; develop a plan to turn a “big ship”; define what we can influence to shape the future; prioritize roadmap for growth; employees have a stake in the future and can contribute to it

Changeability - flexibility

9

Scenario planning increases adaptability and agility when things change; look for change (past things no longer valid, what’s next?); challenge internal assumptions; foresight activities provide early insight to large-impact changes (positive/negative)

Opportunity awareness

8

Enables firm to see opportunities and trends outside of own traditional industry; identify adjacent markets & opportunities (e.g., mobile healthcare); uncover unseen/unexpressed consumer needs

Customer perception

5

Positions company in customers’ mind as an innovative business partner; articulating vision to the customer provides an advantage in information technology (IT) where competitors cannot articulate where they are going; helps clients think in terms of options

Organizational alignment

5

Provide company with a clear points of view about the future; Crystallization: out of all the possibilities, what are the five worth working on?; the VSTEEP factors happen now in any large corporate, but are dispersed across multiple departments and never coordinate activities

Competitive threats

3

Foresight provides recognition of new competitors and competitive threats. Less reliant on core (declining) business; using FS to become aware of threats lowers the company’s risk profile

Long-term thinking

2

Helps executives and business planners think long-term; long-term (3–5 years +) foresight activities predict disruptors early, can react early

Resource allocation

2

Futures-thinking helps allocate resources where it matters rather than where you think it should go

Short-term results

1

Short-term (0–3 years) foresight activities deliver relevant products to retailers and consumers