Science fiction, sustainability, and scenario use: Comprehensive scenarios for improved strategy development and innovation

IF 11.1 1区 管理学 Q1 ENGINEERING, INDUSTRIAL
Henrik Skaug Sætra
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Businesses are increasingly integrating sustainability – or Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) – into existing strategies or developing separate sustainability strategies. Simultaneously, they are reporting on their sustainability related impacts, and the use of scenarios is becoming more common both in strategy development and risk assessments aimed at reporting. However, the value of the approaches to scenario analysis in the main sustainability reporting and ESG frameworks is questionable. They tend to be technically oriented and not conducive to explaining and communicating key strategically important aspects of the futures sought understood, which overlooks other critical sustainability dimensions such as social equity and inclusive economic growth. Furthermore, such use of scenarios is not conducive for promoting innovation. This article examines the current use of scenarios, focusing on common business practices, while also emphasising the need to be ambitious and utilise the potential of science fiction in the scenario process. I propose a practical, pragmatic, and “non-ideal” version of scenario development that is a) an improvement on current business practices and b) accessible and useful for companies wanting to utilize scenarios without extensive resources or the inclination to rely heavily on external scenario experts. This culminates in a recommendation that adopt a more comprehensive approach to sustainability scenarios than what is found in mainstream reporting frameworks. By deepening their engagement with scenarios, organisations will be able to improve the foundations for their strategy development processes, which will also be more tightly coupled with an organisation's innovation management and design processes. Most importantly, however, comprehensive science fiction scenarios can help enable a more sustainable future. By creating and shaping imaginaries of more sustainable futures, such futures become more likely.

科幻小说、可持续性和情景使用:改善战略制定和创新的综合情景
企业越来越多地将可持续发展(或环境、社会、治理(ESG))纳入现有战略或制定单独的可持续发展战略。与此同时,它们也在报告与可持续发展相关的影响,而且在战略制定和旨在报告的风险评估中,情景分析的使用也越来越普遍。然而,主要可持续发展报告和环境、社会和公司治理框架中的情景分析方法的价值值得怀疑。它们往往以技术为导向,不利于解释和传达所要理解的未来中具有重要战略意义的关键方面,从而忽略了社会公平和包容性经济增长等其他关键的可持续性方面。此外,这种假设情景的使用也不利于促进创新。本文研究了当前情景假设的使用情况,重点关注常见的商业实践,同时也强调在情景假设过程中需要有雄心壮志并利用科幻小说的潜力。我提出了一个实用、务实和 "非理想 "的情景开发版本,它 a) 是对当前商业实践的改进,b) 对于希望利用情景的公司来说,既方便又有用,既不需要大量资源,也不倾向于严重依赖外部情景专家。最终,我们建议采用比主流报告框架更全面的可持续发展情景模拟方法。通过深入参与情景模拟,组织将能够改善其战略制定流程的基础,这也将与组织的创新管理和设计流程更加紧密地结合在一起。然而,最重要的是,全面的科幻情景模拟可以帮助实现更加可持续的未来。通过创造和塑造对更可持续未来的想象,这种未来就更有可能实现。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Technovation
Technovation 管理科学-工程:工业
CiteScore
15.10
自引率
11.20%
发文量
208
审稿时长
91 days
期刊介绍: The interdisciplinary journal Technovation covers various aspects of technological innovation, exploring processes, products, and social impacts. It examines innovation in both process and product realms, including social innovations like regulatory frameworks and non-economic benefits. Topics range from emerging trends and capital for development to managing technology-intensive ventures and innovation in organizations of different sizes. It also discusses organizational structures, investment strategies for science and technology enterprises, and the roles of technological innovators. Additionally, it addresses technology transfer between developing countries and innovation across enterprise, political, and economic systems.
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