BUS602: Marketing Management

'Information sources are best selected by individual researchers. The task of a foresight team or manager is to give hints on additional sources and to store and distribute information for future use. 

The reliability of a source needs much attention: wrong information and checks cost the scarce time and resources of the organization. Always try to triple check source material with two other similar scan hits from reputable organizations when possible. 

Insights and Trends can be collected directly or indirectly with the support of information brokers, abstract or scanning services, or internal library services. 

Much of this material is already collected in disparate databases and off-line systems by discrete teams in organizations. But coordinating these activities through a corporate wide knowledge management system means: 

• Significant time savings in data collection.
• Wider scanning from a diverse network. 
• Organizational sense-making is improved'.

Look for outliers and don't be afraid of the weird and the wacky. Remember that what seems unreasonable today may well not be viewed that way in the future.