Talking about the future within an SME? Corporate foresight and the potential contributions to sustainable development

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to try to link sustainable development, small business management and strategy setting with corporate foresight. Corporate foresight aims to transfer methodological sound instruments of future and technology analysis to (small) business contexts and can be described as an information‐based communication process aiming in vision‐building on future markets, changes in society and customer needs.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a literature research and on the results of an interdisciplinary expert workshop and is part of an ongoing case study.

Findings

The paper finds that sustainable development is widely acknowledged as key concept for humanities future. Sustainability calls for balancing short‐term business interest and long‐term development of both the society and the company itself. Regardless of whether a business manager is committed to an ethical fundament of sustainable development (normative attempt), there is also a rational basis for taking (voluntary) actions for corporate sustainability. Notably, regarding the development of commodity prices in the last years (e.g. steel, copper, coal) or the long‐term preservation of value brands, there is a call for strategic response. Corporate foresight may support this strategy‐setting process.

Originality/value

Although foresight procedures are not new in management literature, there is a lack in implementation in small businesses. The paper presents a step‐by‐step approach on corporate foresight to be adopted in small businesses.

Citation

Will, M. (2008), "Talking about the future within an SME? Corporate foresight and the potential contributions to sustainable development", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 234-242. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777830810856618