BUS602: Marketing Management

Reporting of change comes in various ways: 

Emerging change 

• Background - reference site, data site, information. 
• Difference - significant change, distinction from the accepted norm. 
• Policy - strategy, plan, rule, regulation. 
• Trend - pattern, direction, fashion, tendency of past events. 
• Weak signal - weird, wacky, strange, and radical or fringe idea. 
• Perspective - mainstream idea, concern, or solution. 
• Discovery - first observation, realization, or finding. 
• Transformation - revolution, evolution, radical or directional change. 
• Event - breakdown, outage, incident, or disruption. 
• Uncertainty - ambiguity, confusion, dilemma, or doubt. 
• Wild cards - surprise, shock, or Black Swan. 

When a change is just emerging, and only a few data points exist with which to characterize it, we can only analyze it via a case study approach; changes indicated by limited data points and observations are referred to as "weak signals" of change. Sources here are likely to include blogs, fringe publications, and conferences. 

As a change matures, more and more data points are available with which to analyze it: we can speak of the change as a variable which is displaying a trend in some direction. The more mature the trend, the more likely it is that it has entered the public arena, and thus attracted issue adherents. Sources here are likely to be more formal reports and articles. 

Horizon Scanning provides a wide range of uncertainties, opportunities, and threats arising from possible changes over time. These range from issues in the mainstream of current thinking (climate change, energy security, and food supply) to those at the edge of planning (transhumanism, animal extinctions, and flying cars). 

Horizon Scanning therefore explores novel and unexpected issues as well as existing issues or trends.