Corporate Foresight practices in an Algerian ecosystem context: insights from a cement sector case study

Abstract

This research aims to study the corporate foresight practices in a non-digital ecosystem (represented by the Algerian Business Ecosystem), how to digitalise a company’s system and create a new ecosystem or recreate one, with the intent to extract insights from the cement factory LafargeHolcim. The qualitative method was the one chosen for the topic, where we used archival research, actual contact and semi-structured interviews. The CILAS branch was considered as research sample as a whole representing the mother company LafargeHolcim, localised in Biskra, Algeria, study took place in April - May 2021. Its main results are that corporate foresight can be objectively measured internally using different indexes, and that foresight can be practiced without the need for massive investments, it can be practiced with the classical methods. Results from this research are limited to companies in the same ecosystem and the same company size, for the reason that although CILAS does not have the full foresight process digitalised, it is part of a larger group called LafargeHolcim that is responsible for the bigger and major strategic implementations and directions of the company