Using Foresight to Shape Future Expectations in Circular Economy SMEs

Future foresight in business plays a central role in companies' strategic planning, innovation, and product development activities. This is particularly true for firms operating in rapidly changing business environments, in which they may obtain significant competitive advantages by coming up with new innovations and customer solutions. This article studies future foresight mechanisms and practices in innovative SMEs operating in circular economy related industries. The future demands set by legislation and regulation, consumer buying behaviour, and environmental consciousness, all have a strong impact on an SME's future horizon, in which there may be prosperous business opportunities as well as several challenges. This paper presents a qualitative case study conducted on seven Finnish circular economy-oriented SMEs. The case study reveals that the SMEs in this industrial sector are quite active in foresight activities, and that they have developed a variety of practices for effectively utilizing foresight information in their product development and strategic planning activities.