business foresight and acumen
via analysis of financial statements
· Manage customer segments more effectively
· Understand varying customer preferences by service line
· Identify the growth methods used to manage customers - new customer acquisition, increased usage, and customer retention
· Understand how to satisfy customers in changing market sectors
· Analyse the financial risks and strategic benefits associated with a major, single-source bid
Here below is a comparision between the traditional training and the strategy aligned business acumen.
Strategy-Aligned Business Acumen and Development Traditional Training and Development
 Framework for strategy-aligned decision-making
 Tools and techniques for initiative prioritization
 Understanding how day to day work impacts the bottom line
 Integrates training and development with other HR systems
 Vertical integration with strategy and measures
 Horizontal integration with other HR systems  Individual programs without a clear link to strategy or each other
 Provides learning but does not eliminate unnecessary initiatives
 Unclear link to day-to-day work, impact on the bottom line
Sub-topic
Technological foresight.
In the modern global economy the aspect that is changing at the speed of the nano seconds is Technology. Since the Second World War, technology has been a powerful "engine" driving economic development. During the Eighties, economists of the "new growth theory" school showed that science and technology were important determinants of economic growth. Rapid technological change and the development of global markets for technology-based products have created a unstable environment for countries and companies. The increasing sophistication and complexity of technology used in a wide range of products has made it more and more difficult for even the largest corporations to anticipate these changes.
Technology development is taking place very rapidly and is greatly effecting the functioning of business and its future. Technological goods are supposed to be more cost effective and greatly accepted by the customers. But with the rapidly changing technology it becomes very vital on the part of the businessman to possess technological foresight. Because updating with the modern technology becomes more costly and hard to be adapted. So the businessman should possess the technological foresight so that he can make qualitative decisions in adapting the technology suitable for his business in all forms.
Technology Foresight is neither about delivering probabilistic predictions of the future technologies (Technology Forecasting) nor is about anticipating the impacts of future technologies in today’s society (Forecasting Assessment), rather Technology Foresight is a Systematic Process to visualize Science, Technology, Industry, Economy and society in the long run, with the purpose of identifying technologies that can generate economic and social benefits.
Technology Foresight is highly complex due to the wide scope of investigation, the lack of a precise definition of the concept of technology, the arbitrary nature of selection criteria, and the inherent risk of overlooking a significant technology. Nevertheless, Technology Foresight is necessary, and even indispensable, to guide both public authorities [next page]