Networking as a route for corporate foresight in SMEs

Paper presented at the 1st Winter School of PhD Programme on Technology Assessment on the December 6th and 7th, 2010, at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa campus of Caparica (Portugal). A final version was developed for the unit “Project III” of the same PhD programme on Technology Assessment at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 2010-11 under the supervision of Prof. António Brandão Moniz

Purpose. In this paper, I argue that corporate foresight can play the important role not only for large multinational companies, but also for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Rohrbeck et al (2010) proposed that effective corporate foresight can be organized without a process model but with certain capabilities and activities. In this paper it is hypothesized that the latter approach could be suitable for SMEs. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that organizational future orientation of an SME can be also enhanced by engaging in networks with other stakeholders. Therefore, the paper aims to explore the different routes to enhance corporate foresight capabilities in SMEs. The fundamental research question addressed in this paper is: what are the key corporate foresight capabilities and how can these capabilities be built in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to enhance strategic thinking and future orientation in these companies? More specific objectives are: (1) To establish what the key capabilities within the corporate foresight practices are; (2) To establish what kind of value contributions can be expected from corporate foresight; (3) Based on research results, to propose a benchmarking framework of CF capabilities with a distinction between different routes SMEs can take for achieving higher value associated with CF. (4) To propose how the variables in the networking route could be measured. The analysis in this paper is comprised of three main parts. The first part is to formally establish the need for corporate foresight capabilities in the Lithuanian high technology SMEs. The second part, which is the crux of this paper, is to propose the benchmarking framework for corporate foresight in SMEs, following three different routes: structural approach, cultural approach, networking approach. The third part provides conclusions and discussion.