Foresight Applications for Future Oriented Supply Chain and Logistics Management

Abstract

Purpose of the article The research topic undertaken by the author, aimed at answering the question: whether and how the use of foresight studies can help to meet the challenges in the process of improving the supply chains. Identification of the challenges faced by supply chains carried out at the initial stage of the research and directions of evaluation of supply chains presented in the literature constituted for the author the justification for seeking new solutions for supply chain and logistics management. The dynamics of the changes in the logistics companies’ business environment forces the decision makers to focus on the future, which, on the one hand, is aimed at capturing the changes, and on the other, on dealing with uncertainty. Foresight is one of such tools. Diversity of the existing applications of the foresight research indicates the increased possibility of its application also to the needs of prospective supply chain management. The article presents the current range of applications of foresight studies in the area of supply chain management (including logistics), and three new categories of foresight research, taking into account the supply chains specificity, were suggested.