Organizations construct their environments themselves. From the bewildering, chaotic array of impressions, they take those bits of information that enable them to produce such a view of the environment – one that makes it possible for them to operate in the environment with relative confidence. Thus, contrary to what traditional market research suggests, organizations do not respond objectively to existing environmental conditions, but invent, construct and create their realities themselves. The goal of exploring the environment – or, more specifically, exploring markets – is to influence this construction process through re-framing, de-generalization and hypothesis formation and thus to allow organizations to discover unusual things.
Inhoudsopgave
Foreword: Market Exploration Instead of Market Research
1. Observing the Environment
1.1 An Organization’s Environment
1.2. Alignment with Similar Organizations in the Same Field
2. Beyond the Objectivist View—the Cognitive Turn
2.1. The Objectivist View of the World
2.2 “Forming”—How Organizations Create Their View of the Environment
2.3 The Diversity and Narrowing of Perspectives in Organizations
3. Approaches to Exploration
3.1. Re-Framing—Changing the Organization’s View of the Environment
3.2. “De-Generalization” of Statements
3.3. Hypotheses Formation—Articulating Assumptions in Order to Make Progress with Exploration
4. Options for Constructing Reality—Conclusion
Bibliography