IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v69y2016i8p2812-2820.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cultivating strategic foresight in practise: A relational perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Sarpong, David
  • Maclean, Mairi

Abstract

Drawing on relationalism as a theoretical lens, we examine how normative organising structures, rights and authority relationships influence the cultivation of strategic foresight among organisational members lower down the organisational hierarchy. We adopt a case-based approach involving three software firms, whose innovation teams served as our empirical research sites. Our study highlights the triadic influence of individual, organisational and contextual organising practises on the cultivation of strategic foresight. We identify four relational assemblages of practises that enable (or impede) the enactment of strategic foresight in practise. These include strategic conversations, perspective taking and reflexivity-in-practise, over-emphasis on formal knowledge and technical rationality, and benevolent conspiracies. We add to research on strategic foresight by extending our understanding of the vital role that lower-level employees may play in the cultivation of organisational ‘foresightfulness’. We therefore urge management advisors to accord lower-level input recognizably respectful consideration, if not adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarpong, David & Maclean, Mairi, 2016. "Cultivating strategic foresight in practise: A relational perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2812-2820.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:69:y:2016:i:8:p:2812-2820
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.050
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296315006918
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.050?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. Gernot Grabher, 2002. "The Project Ecology of Advertising: Tasks, Talents and Teams," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 245-262.
    2. Paswan, Audhesh K. & Dant, Rajiv P. & Lumpkin, James R., 1998. "An Empirical Investigation of the Linkages among Relationalism, Environmental Uncertainty, and Bureaucratization," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 125-140, November.
    3. Barnett, Steve, 1996. "Style and strategy: New metaphors, new insights," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 347-355, August.
    4. Baldwin, Carliss & Hienerth, Christoph & von Hippel, Eric, 2006. "How user innovations become commercial products: A theoretical investigation and case study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1291-1313, November.
    5. Rohrbeck, René & Schwarz, Jan Oliver, 2013. "The value contribution of strategic foresight: Insights from an empirical study of large European companies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 80(8), pages 1593-1606.
    6. Young, Joyce A. & Gilbert, Faye W. & McIntyre, Faye S., 1996. "An investigation of relationalism across a range of marketing relationships and alliances," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 139-151, February.
    7. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    8. David Courpasson & Françoise Dany & Stewart Clegg, 2012. "Resisters at work : Generating productive resistance in the workplace," Post-Print hal-02312599, HAL.
    9. Gautam Ahuja & Russell W. Coff & Peggy M. Lee, 2005. "Managerial foresight and attempted rent appropriation: insider trading on knowledge of imminent breakthroughs," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(9), pages 791-808, September.
    10. Haridimos Tsoukas & Robert Chia, 2002. "On Organizational Becoming: Rethinking Organizational Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(5), pages 567-582, October.
    11. Sarpong, David & Maclean, Mairi & Davies, Clayton, 2013. "A matter of foresight: How practices enable (or impede) organizational foresightfulness," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 613-625.
    12. Vecchiato, Riccardo, 2012. "Environmental uncertainty, foresight and strategic decision making: An integrated study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 436-447.
    13. Simpson, James T. & Mayo, Donna T., 1997. "Relationship management: A call for fewer influence attempts?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 209-218, July.
    14. Ravichandran, N. & Subramanian R, 1983. "Correlation Functions in Reliability Theory," IIMA Working Papers WP1983-01-01_00524, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    15. David Courpasson & Françoise Dany & Stewart Clegg, 2012. "Resisters at Work: Generating Productive Resistance in the Workplace," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 801-819, June.
    16. Sarah Kaplan & Wanda J. Orlikowski, 2013. "Temporal Work in Strategy Making," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 965-995, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sarpong, David & Eyres, Eve & Batsakis, Georgios, 2019. "Narrating the future: A distentive capability approach to strategic foresight," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 105-114.
    2. Burt, George & Nair, Anup Karath, 2020. "Rigidities of imagination in scenario planning: Strategic foresight through ‘Unlearning’," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    3. Rinat Zhanbayev & Saule Sagintayeva & Abildina Ainur & Anton Nazarov, 2020. "The Use of the Foresight Methods in Developing an Algorithm for Conducting Qualitative Examination of the Research Activities Results on the Example of the Republic of Kazakhstan," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-19, November.
    4. Sakellariou, Evy & Vecchiato, Riccardo, 2022. "Foresight, sensemaking, and new product development: Constructing meanings for the future," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    5. Marinković, Milan & Al-Tabbaa, Omar & Khan, Zaheer & Wu, Jie, 2022. "Corporate foresight: A systematic literature review and future research trajectories," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 289-311.
    6. Hamed A. Ead & Sahar M. Fadallah & Heba M. Fahmy & Mohamed Ramadan A. Rezk & Leonardo Piccinetti & Mahmoud M. Sakr, 2021. "Awareness of foresight through education in Egypt: a case study from Egyptian university," Insights into Regional Development, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 3(4), pages 10-20, December.
    7. Hamed A Ead & Sahar M Fadallah & Heba M Fahmy & Mohamed Ramadan A Rezk & Leonardo Piccinetti & Mahmoud M Sakr, 2021. "Awareness of foresight through education in Egypt: a case study from Egyptian university," Post-Print hal-03584006, HAL.
    8. Eric Irakoze & Kashosi Gad David, 2019. "Linking Motivation to Employees’ Performance: the Mediation of Commitment and Moderation of Delegation Authority," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(9), pages 13-28, September.
    9. Sietze Vellema & Greetje Schouten & Rob Van Tulder, 2020. "Partnering capacities for inclusive development in food provisioning," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 38(6), pages 710-727, November.
    10. David S. A. Guttormsen & Fiona Moore, 2023. "‘Thinking About How We Think’: Using Bourdieu’s Epistemic Reflexivity to Reduce Bias in International Business Research," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 531-559, August.
    11. Abrahamsen, Morten H. & Halinen, Aino & Naudé, Peter, 2023. "The role of visioning in business network strategizing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).

    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. Marinković, Milan & Al-Tabbaa, Omar & Khan, Zaheer & Wu, Jie, 2022. "Corporate foresight: A systematic literature review and future research trajectories," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 289-311.
    2. David Courpasson & Françoise Dany & Ignasi Martí, 2016. "Organizational Entrepreneurship as Active Resistance: A Struggle against Outsourcing," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(1), pages 131-160, January.
    3. Sarpong, David & Maclean, Mairi, 2014. "Unpacking strategic foresight: A practice approach," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 16-26.
    4. Boeker, Warren & Howard, Michael D. & Basu, Sandip & Sahaym, Arvin, 2021. "Interpersonal relationships, digital technologies, and innovation in entrepreneurial ventures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 495-507.
    5. Beth A. Bechky, 2006. "Gaffers, Gofers, and Grips: Role-Based Coordination in Temporary Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 3-21, February.
    6. Stéphane Debenedetti & Isabelle Huault & Véronique Perret, 2015. "Resisting the power of organizations in Modern Times : May we all be Charlot? [Résister au pouvoir des organisations dans les Temps Modernes : Peut-on tous être Charlot ?]," Post-Print hal-01525807, HAL.
    7. Hugues Jeannerat & Leila Kebir, 2012. "Mobility of Knowledge. Knowledge resources and markets: What territorial economic systems ?," GRET Publications and Working Papers 02-12, GRET Group of Research in Territorial Economy, University of Neuchâtel.
    8. Ayda Amniattalab & Reza Ansari, 2016. "The Effect Of Strategic Foresight On Competitive Advantage With The Mediating Role Of Organisational Ambidexterity," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(03), pages 1-18, April.
    9. Li Xiong, 2022. "Improvise to win: the relationship between entrepreneurial improvisation and start-up competitive advantage," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(2), pages 184-204, April.
    10. Christoph Markmann & Alexander Spickermann & Heiko A. von der Gracht & Alexander Brem, 2021. "Improving the question formulation in Delphi‐like surveys: Analysis of the effects of abstract language and amount of information on response behavior," Futures & Foresight Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 3(1), March.
    11. 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).
    12. Cyrille Sardais & Martin Blom & Josée Lortie, 2021. "Exit, voice, loyalty, and … disobedience: When a CEO opposes his principal," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 188-207, March.
    13. Müller, Felix Claus & Ibert, Oliver, 2014. "(Re-)Sources of Innovation: Understanding and Comparing Innovation Dynamics through the Lens of Communities of Practice," IRS Working Papers 52, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS).
    14. Jan-Erik Vahlne & Jan Johanson, 2017. "From internationalization to evolution: The Uppsala model at 40 years," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(9), pages 1087-1102, December.
    15. Sérgio Cavalcante, 2014. "Preparing for business model change: the “pre-stage” finding," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 18(2), pages 449-469, May.
    16. Antti Kauppinen & Anita Juho, 2012. "Internationalisation of SMEs from the perspective of social learning theory," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 200-231, September.
    17. Sarkar, Soumodip & Osiyevskyy, Oleksiy & Clegg, Stewart R., 2018. "Incumbent capability enhancement in response to radical innovations," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 353-365.
    18. Alexey Bereznoy, 2019. "Corporate Foresight In The Strategy Of Multinationals," HSE Working papers WP BRP 97/STI/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    19. Zeng, Michael A., 2018. "Foresight by online communities – The case of renewable energies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 27-42.
    20. Favato, Giampiero & Vecchiato, Riccardo, 2017. "Embedding real options in scenario planning: A new methodological approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 135-149.

    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:jbrese:v:69:y:2016:i:8:p:2812-2820. 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.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    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.