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ResumeDemarches actionnables, enseignables, acceptables et praticables, d’entrainement a l’interpretation de signaux faibles destinees a acquerir des connaissances tacites

This article aims to explore factors contributing to the failure and abandonment of strategic scanning projects and operational systems. Thirty-nine projects that were studied using action research methods are analyzed. The results suggest that failure and abandonment are provoked by combinations of factors relating to stakeholders' qualifications and experience, to the management and organization of the project system, as well as to strategic alignment and changes in the organization's internal structure. These factors include poor project impetus, uninvolved management, unqualified people, inaccurate expectations, project mismanagement, strategy misalignment, poor participation, hostile culture, insufficient budget, conflating technical and managerial problems, previous project trauma and underestimated complexity.

International audience; This research is reporting on the pre-adoption of Strategic Scanning (S.Scan) information systems (IS). More specifically, it relates to the pre-adoption phase, that is, the emergence of the idea of such a system and the evaluation of its need for the organization, upstream of any technological consideration. The research question is the following: what are the drivers and barriers that influence the pre-adoption of a S.Scan IS? The objective of this research is to extend knowledge on a subject that has received little attention from the scholars. Research’s originality relies on the use of isomorphic processes from neo-institu- tional framework to study pre-adoption in the field of S.Scan. On the basis of a multi- method research combining qualitative and quantitative exploratory studies in the specific field of sustainable supply chains (SSC), our results highlight 31 drivers and barriers to pre- adoption of S.Scan IS, ten of which have not been identified before, and five types of pres- sures. They therefore suggest that pre-adoption of S.Scan IS can be subject to both func- tional and institutional pressures. It can be driven either by competitiveness or conformism pressures, and hindered by performance objectives or lack of coercive pressures. Finally, these results put a question mark about the understanding of the strategic dimension of S.Scan IS by organisations, and the government’s role and its responsibility for promoting SSC initiatives and for the adoption of S.Scan IS on this issue.

In order to be efficient and provide useful results, Strategic Scanning activities must be targeted to the part of the business environment that corresponds to organizations' strategic objectives and priorities. However there is a lack of systems to help managers target their information needs for strategic scanning. Following an action research approach, this paper presents the results of the use of a meeting room system to help managers target Strategic Scanning. The system implemented is an adaptation of the “Target” method. It was evaluated in real Face-to-Face scenarios with 27 managers in 10 organizations interested in Strategic Scanning for Sustainable Supply Chains. While this research was exploratory, results already suggest that the system can be added to the catalog of tools for Strategic Scanning. Learning from the use and development of the system lead to propose evolutions to Target method.

When scanning, managers acquire and collect information about their environment to keep informed of its evolution, make decisions, and sometimes to anticipate changes. We attempted to understand this process and assess how French managers interpret scanning information to evaluate its importance. Our effort resulted in: (1) sixteen factors used by managers to make sense of the signs and signals they perceived when scanning; (2) a heuristic model of the process; and (3) two instances of the model. Our results suggested that ad hoc training should be provided and IT use should be fully investigated to enhance managers' scanning skills if organizations wish to develop an ability to detect weak signs/signals, anticipate plausible change, and increase strategic decision effectiveness.