...companies in order to survive and grow. Foresight is about thinking, debating and shaping the future and thus these foresight activities play a crucial role in today’s decision making process within the organization which would influence the future survival, growth and success of the corporate.(Daheim, C & Uerz G. 2006) Corporate foresight has been defined as an ability that includes any structural or cultural element that enables the company to detect discontinuous change early, interpret the consequences for the company, and formulate effective responses to ensure the long-term survival and success of the company (Rene Rohrbeck, 2011) In particular, corporate foresight activities are an increasingly important tool to make better long-term decisions, support innovation activities, strategic planning by identifying the emerging technologies and trends which would create the future scenarios. In brief, corporate foresight can be expected to be a mechanism that enables companies to profit from fundamental change. Today, when we critically evaluate the success of the foresight activities planned and executed in the past we are generally answering the question to learn “ how accurate have been in fore sighting the change” rather than trying to understand if this foresight activity has added any value to the growth or success of the corporate. Consequently, in this study the author sheds light on the value creation from corporate-foresight activities and methods and practices used...
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...Normality of the future: Trend diagnosis for strategic foresight (Liebl 2010) Table of contents 1. Summary of the article 3 2. Analysis of the strength and weakness of the argument 5 2.1 Strengths 5 2.2 Weakness 6 3. Implications for the top management 7 4. Conclusion 8 Appendix A 10 Appendix B 11 1. Summary of the article “In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things” (Musashi 2009). * This article focuses on trend diagnosis for strategic foresight in its entirety. The author scrutinizes that although trend is an imperative concept in the strategic issue management, the interpretation of trend in strategic foresight is ambiguous. This paper conceptualizes, from a strategic point of view, trend as an innovation (socio-cultural) and elaborate the implications with respect to strategic issue diagnosis. (Liebl 2010) * * * * * The figure above (Liebl 2010) depicts an elaborate framework for conceptualizing trends. The strategic trend diagnosis has to deal with two different aspects of innovation: invention and diffusion. The invention aspect of a trend is identifying “The New” results from a transgression of contextual boundaries whereas the diffusion is a process of normalization (Normality and Abnormality) – i.e., a new socio-cultural practice becomes a social convention and...
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...PEOPLE ARE THE KEY TO THE FUTURE..............................................7 ISSUE 4 - MANUFACTURING TO A UNIT OF ONE..............................................8 ISSUE 5 - TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION AS THE KEY ENABLERS ..........9 What do I do now? .......................................................................................11 Panel and Task Force Members .........................................................12 What is Foresight....................................................................inside back cover www.foresight.gov.uk 1 What’s this all about? It is easy for people in business to downplay or ignore the importance of thinking strategically about the future. Day-to-day problems always seem to need immediate attention. Predictions about the future are invariably wrong. And, on the surface, the world we live in today doesn’t look or feel that different to what it was 10 years ago. So why should it change much over the next 10-20 years? But the fact is that the world is changing beneath our feet. And will go on changing at an ever faster rate in ways we can only start to imagine. Change will bring with it new possibilities and new opportunities. If the UK isn’t ready, it will miss out. If your business isn’t ready, you could be history. The Foresight Manufacturing 2020 Panel was set up to identify the key issues that will shape the future...
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...Framework for Strategic Innovation A Framework for Strategic Innovation Blending strategy and creative exploration to discover future business opportunities ______________________________ by Derrick Palmer & Soren Kaplan Managing Principals, InnovationPoint LLC © InnovationPoint LLC www.innovation-point.com Page 1 A Framework for Strategic Innovation Authors Soren Kaplan is the author of Leapfrogging and a Managing Principal at InnovationPoint, where he works with organizations including Visa, Colgate-Palmolive, Medtronic, Disney, Philips, PepsiCo, and numerous other global firms. Soren previously led the internal strategy and innovation group at Hewlett-Packard (HP) during the roaring 1990’s in Silicon Valley and was a co-founder of iCohere, one of the first web collaboration platforms for online learning and communities of practice. He is an Adjunct Professor within the Imagineering Academy at NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands. He holds Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Organizational Psychology and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, two daughters, and hypo-allergenic cat. Learn more about his book Leapfrogging by visiting www.leapfrogging.com. Derrick Palmer consults on strategic innovation with global, Fortune 1000 and medium-sized businesses. His areas of focus include corporate strategy, consumer-inspired new product innovation, designing best-in-class innovation processes, and strategic...
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...Forces for Change Author Note This paper was prepared for Management 689, Managing Change and Organizational Learning taught by Professor Doyle. Forces for Change Discussion of the readings It is evident that change within a business or organization is integral to its solvency and profitability. Even more important is to execute the process of change in a deliberate, methodical and precise manner. If a company brings about change too quickly and erratically, it can burn out quickly like a supernova leaving loss of focus in its wake. Conversely, if change is done slowly or not at all, it can miss a crucial window of opportunity that can never be recaptured causing the company to lose market share or file bankruptcy. Visual media has changed tremendously over the years due to the dynamic technology improving digital media. Consumers rented movie videos from their local video stores and cable television was emerging. Ever changing technology changed formats from the Video Home System (VHS) to compact discs (CDs) and digital video discs (DVDs). The latter format had improved picture quality and longer viewing capacity. Visiting a video store was an enjoyable jaunt for many families, who wanted to enjoy movies in the convenience of their own home when the weekends rolled around. With this in mind, I was saddened to hear the demise of Blockbuster Video, which first opened in 1985 and recently announced this year that it was closing all its brick and mortar...
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...which had huge implications for Intuit’s strategy” (Jick et al., 2003, p.6). They decided to embrace this new technology and change the way the company conducted business. The case study showed the problems the company had with innovation and delivering new services to a newly immerging customer base (internet users). Intuit’s foresight and innovation allowed the company to remain competitive in an ever changing software market. This paper will analyze various concepts and models that applied to their success through the company’s recognition for the need for modernization and a new customer base, and through its recognition for the need for cultural change and employee empowerment. The change that Intuit experienced was born out of necessity; they were faced with a drop in demand for their current products and were behind in exploiting a growing internet market. This need for innovation is categorized by Christensen (2003) as disruptive innovation which “creates an entirely new market through the introduction of a new kind of product or service” (p.133). The internet back then was a service that created a whole new competitive arena that Intuit had failed to recognize. Likewise, the success they enjoyed through sustaining innovations, innovations that make an already existing product...
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...Technology in Banking Insight and Foresight Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (Established by Reserve Bank of India) Foreword The Indian banking industry, almost in keeping with the deep entrepreneurial approach of the country s business, has come a long way. This report is an effort to capture some exemplary initiatives and developments so far as well as discuss the emerging trends. The insights and understanding of the technology trends and ground-level work being done by the banks has been culled from the nominations received from banks for the IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence Awards 2010. The transformation of Indian banks in the last decade has been phenomenal from local branch banking to global presence and anywhere-anytime banking. Most of the regular banking transactions can today be carried out from mobile phones. Sustained reforms and information technology (IT) have played a pivotal role since the initiation of the second phase of reforms post 1998. The benefits of technology such as scale, speed and low error rate are also reflecting in the performance, productivity and profitability of banks, which have improved tremendously in the past decade. Regulatory initiatives from the Central Bank have also played a large role in the banking sector. Robust technology-enabled organizations have now become the mainstay of the industry. Initiatives such as electronic clearing service (ECS), national electronic funds transfer (NEFT), real-time...
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...Peter Drucker, in his book Innovation and Entrepreneurship (1985), is expressing four requirements for “entrepreneurial management”. He clearly explains it is needed to identify and focus on the appropriate markets when launching a new product or service. That includes being reactive and always trying to take advantage from the unseen markets. You also have to anticipate and foresee any financial afflictions, which very often lead to the destruction of new ventures. Developing a financial foresight and controlling the cash flow are some of the key for a healthy venture. Then you should anticipate the growth and create a great management team. Do not try to lead the new venture on your own, and always have in mind that a good management team needs approximately three years to be built. Finally, always question yourself and your place in the company. “Where can I contribute?” is a question you should really think about, even though you’re the creator of the venture. Try to find what the better is for the general good of the company and put our own beliefs aside, even if it means for you to leave the project. Some of these requirements can be related to Louis Agassiz’s teaching method. By teaching his students the importance of a good observation, Agassiz was exercising them to identify and focus on subjects that really matter. They were probably able then to focus on the market fluctuation and to identify unseen markets -and new opportunities- or to anticipate the need of a management...
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...All the suggestions from the participants are acknowledged. Following the Managed Innovation Process, by managing innovation and looking beyond what is obvious, it is possible to influence and inspire members of the team and explore lots of different pathways and try and find new possibilities. The company is strategically aligned as the interest and support among the key stakeholders to develop the organisation are there and they are focused on the same visions, goals and actions within the company. And also the key stakeholders have good industry foresight that helps to understand and identify trends that are new to the business and its business area. It also helps to identify new technologies that could benefit the business, and to think outside the box. And also it is discussed about the customer needs and readiness to help as a company to act upon new ideas and implement new strategies quickly and organised. And also company’s readiness helps when managing the operational and financial demands that will follow when using...
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...Position Paper on Relevance of Information Technology Information technology has undoubtedly become an indispensable part of our day to day lives. Both the articles considered for analysis projects the role of IT, from being the back-bone of commerce to handling huge volumes of data, as being highly significant in the modern world. Even though both Nicholas Carr and Erik Brynjolfsson are in agreement to the omnipresence of IT, their perception of the future of IT differs vastly. I am in accordance with the school of thought put forth by Nicholas Carr which believes that the strategic value of IT has reduced. For all the inventions that had revolutionized the world there has been a point where these inventions become inevitable and hence highly available which leads the users to take the same for granted. In Carr’s article he explains this phenomenon using the examples of railroads and electrical power systems. He classifies technology broadly into two categories – Proprietary and Infrastructural. It has been proved over the course of time that IT services which used to be available only to the elite few has become commoditized hence making it an infrastructural technology. An infrastructural technology used by a company doesn’t give it any edge over their rivals but it’s the proprietary technology that does. Hence the relevance of IT as a medium to fight competition has declined. Mismanagement of data has been discussed in both the articles and that the company can gain only...
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...In 1992, Hewlett-Packard introduced the Kittyhawk, which was the smallest hard disk drive in the world at the time at 1.3” in diameter. The initial product held 20 megabytes of storage and could withstand a three-foot drop without losing any data. For HP, the possibilities of such a product seemed endless. As a result, the company launched the project with a rather ambitious goal; that is; for the project to succeed, it would have to meet the following requirements, as specified by Bruce Spenner, HP’s Disk Memory Division (DMD) General Manager: it would have to be ready for market in 12-months, generate $100-million in revenue within 18-months after launch, and make the break-even point within 36-months. However, by June 1994, after only two years of effort, the project’s sales failed to meet the projected forecast and Rick Seymour, the project leader, was left having to make some big decisions. Why did Kittyhawk fail? By applying course concepts, some of the reasons become clear. The Disk Memory Division was essentially an OEM supplier in high-performance markets and had technical competencies in sustaining technology improvements in disk drives. Under Spenner’s leadership, the Division was to become a major player in the growing disk drive market. Spenner’s “big-business fast” strategy is ultimately what caused the project to fail. Since HP was a company that specialized in sustaining technological enhancements, it managed the Kittyhawk project as though it was a sustaining...
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...the performance of platforms supporting functional capacities of Human Relations (HR). Playing a critical role in reaching the client's business goal, this software technology is focused on creating the right balance to fit the business's core operations. The business method is simple. Using the best industry practices, we develop the solutions needed to support the platform functions vital to human capital management (HCM) for our clients. As a management tool, a single employee record is shared across multiple networks in this environment. Aligned with a single cloud-based solution, it incorporates, recruiting, performance management, compensation planning, time, attendance and payroll functions. Report chronicles are only a click away, managing activities in real time. The technique allows decision making based on accurate and up-to-date information. Functionality of the platform eliminates the dependency of tiered applications or integrated components. The system allows multiple functions to collaborate with each other throughout the day without delay or interruption. Users have multiple options for pre-hire to post employment, tracking information and generating data reports based on financial analysis and operational management assessments. Software features aligned with our technology skills are a fundamental part of this business strategy. Outdated software features are prime targets for system compromises. Our role is to provide continued surveillance of the operating...
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...CHAPTER ONE PROPOSAL and FORESIGHT 1.1 EVENTS MANAGEMENT. Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of festivals, events and conferences. As an event manager, one is responsible for managing an event from conception through to staging. Event management involves studying the complexities of the brand, identifying the target audience, devising the event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the technical aspects before actually launching the event. Post-event analysis and ensuring a return on investment have become significant drivers for the event industry. The recent growth of festivals and events as an industry around the world means that the management can no longer be done or set up for a sole and particular purpose. Events management entails the overseeing of all sorts of events from the Olympics co-ordination and staging down to the planning of a breakfast meeting for ten business people. A BRIEF WRITE UP ON MY PROPOSED PROJECT. I Karika Oghenerugba Oghenefega, Matriculation number 09/Sci01/014, from the Computer Science department of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti Ekiti state, intend to explore the discuss of Events Management and implement my foregained knowledge in my field of study, Computer Science, in the development of an application software which may be used in the planning and management of events. This application software would be able to ensure the supervision of planned out events...
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...Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 138-150, Apr 2011 Factors Affecting Retailers Attitude towards Manufacturers: A Study on Unilever Intisar Alam, 2Afreen Choudhury* Business School, BRAC University, Bangladesh 2Faculty of Business Administration, East West University, Bangladesh *ac@ewubd.edu 1BRAC 1Muhammad Abstract: The study addresses broadly the performance related issues as to what extent is the impact of various factors responsible in terms of retailers for doing business with manufacturers in FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) sector at Dhaka in Bangladesh. The theoretical framework was designed based on the literature and hence two hypotheses were formulated. The samples were selected by Proportionate Stratified Sampling method. The data were collected by distributing 10 items questionnaires to 50 retailers under different categories in Dhaka. The questionnaire was developed on the basis of exploratory research which were used to measure retailers attitude. Data collected were sorted out and keyed in into SPSS and were analyzed using descriptive statistics to answer the research question. Using the Factor analysis we have extracted four factors and named those factors as Manufacturer’s Production Standard, Managerial Efficiency, Promotional Capability and Customer Solution Capability. The result of the Multiple Regression analysis showed that there is a significant relationship between retailers’ attitude (dependent variable) and the factors...
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...The following is a highlighted summary of the book, Competing for the Future, published by Harvard Business School Publishing. The statements below are key points of the book as determined by James Altfeld and have been made available at no charge to the user. Competing for the Future By Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad Look around your company. Look at the high profile initiatives that have been launched recently. Look at the issues that are preoccupying senior management. Look at the criteria and benchmarks by which progress is being measured. Look at the track record of new business creation. Look into the faces of your colleagues and consider their dreams and fears. Look toward the future and regenerate success again and again in the years and decades to come. Now ask yourself: Does senior management have a clear and broadly shared understanding of how the industry may be different ten years from now? Are its headlights shining farther out than those of competitors? Is its point of view about the future clearly reflected in the company’s short term priorities? Is its point of view about the future competitively unique? Ask yourself: How influential is my company in setting the new rules of competition within its industry? Is it regularly redefining new ways of doing business building new capabilities, and setting new standards of customer satisfaction? Is it more a rule maker than a rule taker within its industry? Is it more intent on challenging the industry status quo...
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