Technology Foresight from the Perspective of Core Capabilities of Research Centers
Abstract
Nowadays, organizations should be prepared to anticipate technological changes in their environment and adjust their technology strategy, which can be achieved using technology foresight. This study aims to analyze the way technology foresight can be a central capability of organizations, more specifically, a research center: The Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico en Electroquímica (CIDETEQ), which is the study case in this paper. We conducted semi-structured interviews with the main actors in charge of technology foresight there. As a result, we identified four key factors to make technology foresight a core capability of an organization: (1) technical knowledge and ability to identify trends, (2) coded knowledge about and skills in technical tools, (3) established information sources and roles, and (4) dissemination of the technology foresight activity in the organization. In addition, this paper contributes to this field because it offers an approach based on strategic management and core capabilities to organizations, so that they can have access to potential markets, increase the benefits perceived by customers, and gain a hard-to-imitate competitive advantage.
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