Every company or government agency has its own special informational needs when considering the future. We
customize our research projects to help with strategic planning, business development, or any initiative requiring insight into the long-range future, supported by rigorous collection of relevant trend data.
A few examples of client projects include:
Long-range product planning
Main question proposed: "Is our current business model going to remain profitable, and if not, what should we do today to ensure a successful future?"
Project: Identification of industry trends, forecasts in science & technology, analysis of intellectual property filed by competitors (and future competitors!), all culminating in market scenarios for the year 2020.
Result: A complete analysis of upcoming competing products and the intellectual property that could make them possible, plus a five- to ten-year vision of what would drive customer demand in the market space. More importantly, the recognition that the current business model might end in a few short years - and that new competitors were on the way to enter the market!
Future business development
Main question proposed: "Our business units are having trouble seeing how we can develop new business - they are stuck thinking about our existing markets. How can we use future trends to show us new business development opportunies?"
Project: Use a S.T.E.E.P. approach, bringing the team a variety of trends in society, technology, economics, ecology, and politics to show the hidden opportunities in a changing world.
Result: The company recognized new opportunities from changes in Asian manufacturing, fast growth in different industrial sectors, and demographic shifts.
Scenario-based strategic planning
Main question proposed: "We're a large manufacturer who could be impacted by global warming in a variety of ways. What are the various scenarios that could occur, what variables should we be tracking, and how might our strategies need to be different depending on the outcome?"
Project: Tracked trends in proposed legislation, new technologies, and scientific forecasts for global warming.
Result: Recognition that it would only take one or two major hurricanes to radically change the regulatory environment for heavy manufacturing. Contingency plans put in place, multiple strategies considered for a wider variety of potential outcomes.
Do you have an idea for a special project that could help you think more insightfully about your future? Contact us.