IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v140y2019icp105-114.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Narrating the future: A distentive capability approach to strategic foresight

Author

Listed:
  • Sarpong, David
  • Eyres, Eve
  • Batsakis, Georgios

Abstract

Strategic foresight encompasses thinking and organizing differently within the contingencies of the present in ways that is mindful of the unpredictable future. Building on the Ricoeurian notion of distentio- ‘the stretching of consciousness through simultaneous attention to memory and expectation’, we develop the concept of distentive capability as a spatio-temporal process of ‘way-finding’ that sustains the creative emergence of strategic foresight across multiple time horizons. Emphasizing narratives as the site of strategic foresight, we draw on tropes taken from three of the most popular speeches delivered by Steve Jobs, the American information technology entrepreneur, inventor and founder of Apple Inc. to illustrate how distentive capability as played out in the reassembling of the past, the present and the future, stretched out in time, may contribute to the identification of potentialities and limits for strategic action. Implication for the theory and practice of strategic foresight are presented.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:140:y:2019:i:c:p:105-114
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2018.06.034
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162517305577
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.06.034?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. Schwarz, Jan Oliver, 2015. "The ‘Narrative Turn’ in developing foresight: Assessing how cultural products can assist organisations in detecting trends," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 90(PB), pages 510-513.
    2. Philippe Durance & Michel Godet, 2010. "Scenario building: Uses and abuses," Post-Print hal-02864615, HAL.
    3. Weigand, Kirk & Flanagan, Thomas & Dye, Kevin & Jones, Peter, 2014. "Collaborative foresight: Complementing long-horizon strategic planning," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 134-152.
    4. 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.
    5. Sarpong, David & Maclean, Mairi, 2014. "Unpacking strategic foresight: A practice approach," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 16-26.
    6. Sarpong, David & Maclean, Mairi, 2016. "Cultivating strategic foresight in practise: A relational perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2812-2820.
    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. Atiase, Victor Yawo & Kolade, Oluwaseun & Liedong, Tahiru Azaaviele, 2020. "The emergence and strategy of tech hubs in Africa: Implications for knowledge production and value creation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    2. Andrzej Magruk, 2021. "Analysis of Uncertainties and Levels of Foreknowledge in Relation to Major Features of Emerging Technologies—The Context of Foresight Research for the Fourth Industrial Revolution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-16, September.
    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. Gattringer, Regina & Wiener, Melanie, 2020. "Key factors in the start-up phase of collaborative foresight," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    6. Hajdas Monika & Szpulak Aleksandra & Radomska Joanna & Silva Susana C., 2022. "Don’t tell me stories – the narratives of retirement and their relation with brand associations," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 58(1), pages 17-32, March.
    7. Susanna Lahnamäki-Kivelä & Tuomas Kuhmonen, 2022. "How Farmers Conceive and Cope with Megatrends: The Case of Finnish Dairy Farmers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-16, February.

    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. Betz, Ulrich A.K. & Betz, Frederick & Kim, Rachel & Monks, Brendan & Phillips, Fred, 2019. "Surveying the future of science, technology and business – A 35 year perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 137-147.
    3. Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph & Zhang, Hongxu, 2014. "What can we learn from failed international companies?," MPRA Paper 63591, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2014.
    4. Sheida Abdoli & Farah Habib & Mohammad Babazadeh, 2018. "Making spatial development scenario for south of Bushehr province, Iran, based on strategic foresight," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 1293-1309, June.
    5. Massimiliano Mazzanti & Ugo Rizzo, 2014. "Moving'diversely'towards'the'green'economy.'CO2'abating'techno organisational'trajectories'and'environmental'policy'in'EU'sectors," SEEDS Working Papers 0914, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised May 2014.
    6. 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.
    7. Duckett, Dominic George & McKee, Annie J. & Sutherland, Lee-Ann & Kyle, Carol & Boden, Lisa A. & Auty, Harriet & Bessell, Paul R. & McKendrick, Iain J., 2017. "Scenario planning as communicative action: Lessons from participatory exercises conducted for the Scottish livestock industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 138-151.
    8. Bianka Shoai Tehrani & Pascal da Costa & Danièle Attias, 2016. "Three investment scenarios for future nuclear reactors in Europe," Post-Print hal-00997005, HAL.
    9. Raele, Ricardo & Boaventura, João Mauricio Gama & Fischmann, Adalberto Américo & Sarturi, Greici, 2014. "Scenarios for the second generation ethanol in Brazil," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 205-223.
    10. Fabio Boschetti & Elizabeth A. Fulton & Nicola J. Grigg, 2014. "Citizens’ Views of Australia’s Future to 2050," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-26, December.
    11. Sarpong, David & Maclean, Mairi, 2016. "Cultivating strategic foresight in practise: A relational perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2812-2820.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. Daniel Kozak & Hayley Henderson & Alejandro de Castro Mazarro & Demián Rotbart & Rodolfo Aradas, 2020. "Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) in Dense Urban Watersheds. The Case of the Medrano Stream Basin (MSB) in Buenos Aires," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-30, March.
    15. Beatrice Villari, 2022. "Designing Sustainable Services for Cities: Adopting a Systemic Perspective in Service Design Experiments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-15, October.
    16. Hussain, M. & Tapinos, E. & Knight, L., 2017. "Scenario-driven roadmapping for technology foresight," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 160-177.
    17. Abrahamsen, Morten H. & Halinen, Aino & Naudé, Peter, 2023. "The role of visioning in business network strategizing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    18. Bianka Shoai Tehrani & Pascal Da Costa & Danièle Attias, 2014. "Three Investment Scenarios for Future Nuclear Reactors in Europe," Working Papers hal-00997005, HAL.
    19. Cheng, M.N. & Wong, Jane W.K. & Cheung, C.F. & Leung, K.H., 2016. "A scenario-based roadmapping method for strategic planning and forecasting: A case study in a testing, inspection and certification company," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 44-62.
    20. 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.

    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:140:y:2019:i:c:p:105-114. 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.