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The Management of Strategic-Foresight Activities: Evidence from Large European Multinationals

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Systemic Management for Intelligent Organizations

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Abstract

Despite the strategic relevance of strategic-foresight activities, the strategic-management literature contains only little and fragmented knowledge of how firms successfully manage such activities. This exploratory paper provides insights into the management of strategic-foresight activities based on in-depth case studies of five large multinational companies. According to our findings, strategic-foresight activities (1) are structurally managed within an organization via one of three models, (2) consist of initiation, modeling, and finalization phases, which occur in circular, iterative loops, (3) use increasingly qualitative and participative methods, (4) support strategic decision-making with a main focus either on innovation and exploration or on planning and exploitation, (5) are subject to substantial change depending on the content-related openness of the corporate strategy (diversification vs. focusing) and the openness of the strategic-planning process (outside vs. inside orientation), and (6) are induced by a radical and sudden change in the corporate strategy.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IFB Institute of Management, University of St. Gallen, Dufourstrasse, 40a, CH 9000, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Günther Müller-Stewens

  2. Zurich University of Applied Sciences, St. Georgenstrasse, 70, CH 8400, Winterthur, Switzerland

    Adrian Mueller

  3. Lochbrunner Consulting, Hermannstraße, 11D, 33602, Bielefeld, Germany

    Veronika Lüders

Authors
  1. Günther Müller-Stewens
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  2. Adrian Mueller
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  3. Veronika Lüders
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Günther Müller-Stewens .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Morgartenstraße 2c, Bern, 3000, Switzerland

    Stefan N. Grösser

  2. and Arts, School of Business, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences, Rösslimatte 48, Lucerne, 6002, Switzerland

    René Zeier

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Müller-Stewens, G., Mueller, A., Lüders, V. (2012). The Management of Strategic-Foresight Activities: Evidence from Large European Multinationals. In: Grösser, S., Zeier, R. (eds) Systemic Management for Intelligent Organizations. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29244-6_4

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