Strategic Foresight

Tools for Creating Strategic Advantage

The Strategic Foresight in Business Management program is a comprehensive introduction to the approaches and tools of strategic foresight.

The program is based on scientific approaches to foresight and scenario work. During the program learning is complemented by facilitated group work around business cases and real-world examples. All the foresight tools are practiced one at a time and as a result the participant will be equipped with skills to create a vision for an organization and implement a continuous foresight-based strategy process.

Under conditions of constantly growing volatility and ambiguity, competitive advantage goes to those who best deduce the forces acting on their industry, and who most capably adapt to profit from them

Up to 4.5 European Credits (EC) can be transferred from this program to the Aalto Executive MBA or Aalto MBA program.

Program Benefits

This program illustrates with real-world examples, group work and guest speakers, how to develop a foresight perspective to make better business decisions. By using foresight tools and scenario work an organizations strategy will become agile and a continuous process instead of a static document.

Gain new tools and methodologies for strategic foresight

Learn how to use scenario work and take actions based on it

Develop skills in using foresight approaches in decision-making

Improve competence to turn foresight into business initiatives

Contents and Schedule

The program incorporates interactive workshop-style lectures, group work, videos and guest speakers, blending analytical models with worked examples and real-world situations.

Based in theory, it is decidedly pragmatic in style and approach, selecting the best materials and solutions from both academic and business sources.

Introduction to Strategic Foresight

• Sources of strategic uncertainty
• Understanding changing business externalities and their role in company success and failure
• Managing limits in foresight. Mental models and biases in management analysis
• Strategic Foresight, Design Thinking and Adaptation to Design
• Design the future and have an impact on it
• Introduction to DARPA Model

Strategic Foresight Tools

• The role of vision and future design (from the DARPA Model)
• Explaining the toolset framework
• Forming and testing scenarios
• Real world scenario process examples and situations
• Building prototypes with Legos

Analytical Methods for Scenario Development

• Methods for scenario development and how to go from scenarios to actions.
• The participants will apply the methods from day 2 to develop a set of scenarios and build a strategy that is robust across a range of alternative scenarios.