Strategic Foresight and Environmental Uncertainty: A Research Agenda

Purpose: The main purpose of this article is to promote further systematic inquiry into the field of strategic foresight. It carefully aims to re-examine the notion of environmental uncertainty, the main theoretical approaches advanced by literature on strategy to cope with uncertainty, and foresight activities in corporate organizations. Design/methodology/approach: This article is theoretical in nature. However, its insights are significantly based on empirical analysis: the author has been involved in the past ten years in in-depth investigation of foresight practices in several international firms of different industries. Findings: Several important issues and research questions on strategic foresight have remained largely unresolved from both an academic and managerial perspective. This paper outlines such questions. Originality/value: The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, it links the work on strategic foresight to a wide range of related literature streams, thus revealing new connections and issues to be explored. Second, it develops a research agenda that may inspire further theoretical and empirical work on the nature and effects of strategic foresight efforts.