IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v162y2021ics0040162520312154.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The performativity of strategic foresight tools: Horizon scanning as an activation device in strategy formation within a UK financial institution

Author

Listed:
  • Idoko, Onyaglanu
  • MacKay, R. Bradley

Abstract

This paper reports on a longitudinal study into the use of a strategic foresight tool – the Horizon Scan – in the strategy development process of a UK financial institution. Drawing on concepts of performativity, we build on an emerging literature that demonstrates that strategic foresight tools don't just describe the world, or a future state, they also actively create it. In this way, we argue, strategic foresight tools assume agency in and of themselves. Through their interactions with strategists, a theory of the future emerges that can be acted on and performed. Our study identifies four ways that a Horizon Scan is performative – through enrolling, temporalizing, consolidating, and persuading – and in so doing, we develop the notion of an activation device that shows how strategic foresight tools, conceptualised as such, broadens our understanding of the active and interconnected roles that they perform, and how this in turn shapes the work of strategy-making.

Suggested Citation

  • Idoko, Onyaglanu & MacKay, R. Bradley, 2021. "The performativity of strategic foresight tools: Horizon scanning as an activation device in strategy formation within a UK financial institution," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:162:y:2021:i:c:s0040162520312154
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120389
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162520312154
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120389?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fabian Muniesa, 2008. "Trading-room telephones and the identification of counterparts," Post-Print halshs-00335110, HAL.
    2. Eero Vaara & Virpi Sorsa & Pekka Palli, 2010. "On the force potential of strategy texts : a critical discourse analysis of a strategic plan and its power effects in a city organization," Post-Print hal-02312559, HAL.
    3. Mackenzie, Donald, 2006. "Is Economics Performative? Option Theory and the Construction of Derivatives Markets," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 29-55, March.
    4. Chris Carter & Stewart Clegg & Martin Kornberger, 2010. "Re‐framing strategy: power, politics and accounting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(5), pages 573-594, June.
    5. Sarah Kaplan, 2011. "Strategy and PowerPoint: An Inquiry into the Epistemic Culture and Machinery of Strategy Making," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 320-346, April.
    6. Diedrich, Andreas & Eriksson-Zetterquist, Ulla & Ewertsson, Lena & Hagberg, Johan & Hallin, Anette & Lavén, Fredrik & Lindberg, Kajsa & Raviola, Elena & Rindzeviciute, Egle & Walter, Lars, 2013. "Exploring the Performativity Turn in Management Studies," GRI-rapport 2013:2, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg Research Institute GRI.
    7. Fabian Muniesa & Yuval Millo & Michel Callon, 2007. "An introduction to market devices," Post-Print halshs-00177928, HAL.
    8. Rowe, Emily & Wright, George & Derbyshire, James, 2017. "Enhancing horizon scanning by utilizing pre-developed scenarios: Analysis of current practice and specification of a process improvement to aid the identification of important ‘weak signals’," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 224-235.
    9. Ramírez, Rafael & Österman, Riku & Grönquist, Daniel, 2013. "Scenarios and early warnings as dynamic capabilities to frame managerial attention," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 80(4), pages 825-838.
    10. Cristiano Busco & Paolo Quattrone, 2015. "Exploring How the Balanced Scorecard Engages and Unfolds: Articulating the Visual Power of Accounting Inscriptions," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(3), pages 1236-1262, September.
    11. Pollock, Neil & D’Adderio, Luciana, 2012. "Give me a two-by-two matrix and I will create the market: Rankings, graphic visualisations and sociomateriality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 565-586.
    12. Laure Cabantous & Jean-Pascal Gond, 2011. "Rational Decision Making as Performative Praxis: Explaining Rationality's Éternel Retour," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 573-586, June.
    13. Robert P. Wright & Sotirios E. Paroutis & Daniela P. Blettner, 2013. "How Useful Are the Strategic Tools We Teach in Business Schools?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 92-125, January.
    14. Jarzabkowski, Paula & Wilson, David C., 2006. "Actionable Strategy Knowledge:: A Practice Perspective," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 348-367, October.
    15. Wanda J. Orlikowski, 2010. "The sociomateriality of organisational life: considering technology in management research," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 34(1), pages 125-141, January.
    16. Jarzabkowski, Paula & Paul Spee, Andreas & Smets, Michael, 2013. "Material artifacts: Practices for doing strategy with ‘stuff’," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 41-54.
    17. Robert M. Grant, 2003. "Strategic planning in a turbulent environment: evidence from the oil majors," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(6), pages 491-517, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roper, Angela & Hodari, Demian, 2015. "Strategy tools: Contextual factors impacting use and usefulness," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Marc Fréchet & Hervé Goy, 2017. "Does strategy formalization foster innovation? Evidence from a French sample of small to medium-sized enterprises," Post-Print hal-01623788, HAL.
    3. Paula Jarzabkowski & Sarah Kaplan, 2015. "Strategy tools-in-use: A framework for understanding “technologies of rationality” in practice," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 537-558, April.
    4. Filippo Zanin & Maria Lusiani & Carlo Bagnoli, 2020. "The swinging role of visualization in strategic planning," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 24(4), pages 1019-1054, December.
    5. Sander Merkus & Marcel Veenswijk, 2017. "Turning New Public Management theory into reality: Performative struggle during a large scale planning process," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(7), pages 1264-1284, November.
    6. Gary T. Burke & Carola Wolf, 2021. "The Process Affordances of Strategy Toolmaking when Addressing Wicked Problems," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 359-388, March.
    7. Guiette, Alain & Vandenbempt, Koen, 2017. "Change managerialism and micro-processes of sensemaking during change implementation," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 65-81.
    8. Blanc, Antoine & Huault, Isabelle, 2014. "Against the digital revolution? Institutional maintenance and artefacts within the French recorded music industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 10-23.
    9. Thomas Wainwright, 2011. "Elite Knowledges: Framing Risk and the Geographies of Credit," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(3), pages 650-665, March.
    10. Darbi, William Phanuel Kofi & Knott, Paul, 2016. "Strategising practices in an informal economy setting: A case of strategic networking," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 400-413.
    11. Florence Allard-Poesi, 2015. "Des méthodes qualitatives dans la recherche en management : Voies principales, tournants et chemins de traverse," Post-Print hal-01111378, HAL.
    12. Elbasha, Tamim & Avetisyan, Emma, 2018. "A framework to study strategizing activities at the field level: The example of CSR rating agencies," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 38-46.
    13. Phillips, Paul & Moutinho, Luiz, 2014. "Critical review of strategic planning research in hospitality and tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 96-120.
    14. Franck Aggeri, 2017. "How can performativity contribute to management and organization research? Theoretical perspectives and analytical framework [Qu'est-ce que la performativité peut apporter aux recherches en managem," Post-Print hal-01609172, HAL.
    15. Haarhaus, Tim & Liening, Andreas, 2020. "Building dynamic capabilities to cope with environmental uncertainty: The role of strategic foresight," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    16. Boedker, Christina & Chong, Kar-Ming & Mouritsen, Jan, 2020. "The counter-performativity of calculative practices: Mobilising rankings of intellectual capital," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    17. Jarzabkowski, Paula & Paul Spee, Andreas & Smets, Michael, 2013. "Material artifacts: Practices for doing strategy with ‘stuff’," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 41-54.
    18. Faulconbridge, James R. & Muzio, Daniel, 2021. "Valuation devices and the dynamic legitimacy-performativity nexus: The case of PEP in the English legal profession," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    19. Wright, George & Cairns, George & O'Brien, Frances A. & Goodwin, Paul, 2019. "Scenario analysis to support decision making in addressing wicked problems: Pitfalls and potential," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(1), pages 3-19.
    20. Mueller, Frank, 2018. "Taking Goffman seriously: Developing Strategy-as-Practice," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 16-30.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:162:y:2021:i:c:s0040162520312154. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.