Innovation with Foresight: Anticipating alternative and creative responses in strategic organizational decision-making

This chapter provides a review on key issues and their implications
caused by rapidly changing business environments, which have
prompted a call for new strategic organizational decision-making
capabilities in innovation. Looking at the problem through the lens of the
financial services landscape, thematic analysis points toward traditional
financial services players that are faced with uncertainty and disruptions
triggered by technology-enabled financial solution providers [fintech]
and their new business models devised for 21st century client-integrated
ecosystems. The analysis highlights that amid accelerating
environmental complexity, business leaders and educators are called
upon to become more forward thinking, and to develop their creative and
strategic innovation capabilities. Considering the foresight and design
literature, the hypothesis is that a systematic and collaborative futures
thinking function can improve the strategic innovation direction of the
enterprise. This chapter is divided into five sections that describe, at a
high-level, the financial services landscape in the context of China,
introduces the role of strategic foresight and design in innovation, and
outlines the four-stages of integrating their synergies, which are
exemplified by stories of real-case scenarios derived from financial
services futures studies over the medium-term time horizon.