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 “We cannot solve
the problems we have created
with the same thinking
that created them.”
…Albert Einstein
Mika Mannermaa: ”In the present heated competition not a single company can be successful, if it organizes its production and makes its marketing plans on the basis of feelings, when they happen to pop into the minds of the directors. Makes its budget and closing of the books occasionally, and using amatourish skills. Recruits its staff using lottery. Despite of that, the strategic futures issues in a company have traditionally been taken care under similar mentality. During the stable economic development and trend-like changes in the past it has been possible to live in this manner. At present, in the times of rapid changes, turbulence and trend-breaks, the future intrudes into the present realities of the companies in a totally new way. The future is being lived already now! A successful company after another has adopted strategic futures work as a part of its systematic activities. They are carried out professionally and as seriously as the most important operative functions and in connection with them. This is a great new development – and a necessity in the future!
The same goes to other societal actors, too. Also ministries, municipalities, associations, etc. have to face a turbulent future. A futures expert can bring two types of added value to the strategic futures projects carried out in different organizations. She/he knows the methods and is able to push the work forward. In addition to that a competent expert is deeply aware of the literature in the futures field. Even though we cannot know anything essential of the future for certain, preditictions and scenarios of the future have been constructed already for decennia. In this sense expertise also in the wide field of futures studies has been cumulated. The experts are familiar with this material, and the top guys have written reports and books on these topics themselves, too."
Futures Studies Mannermaa Ltd. has for years carried out several futures projects both in the private and the public sectors, scientific futures research projects as well as more practical scenario and strategy projects and futures studios. From these pages (see the links on the left) some basic tools are presented. You can find more thorough descriptions of the methods under the page ’ Articles and links’.
On futures research:
Mannermaa, Mika (2000) Multidisciplinarity, Methodologies and Futures Studies. Futures Research Quartely, Vol. 16, No. 2, Summer 2000, pp. 5-20.
Mannermaa, Mika (2002) Politics + Science = Futures Studies? In Advancing Futures, Ed. James A. Dator. Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, London, pp. 161-175. Also in American Behavioral Scientist. Vol. 42 (1998), No. 3, November/December, pp. 427-435.
On futures:
Mannermaa, Mika (2003) Biosociety and Human Being. A report to the National Technology Agency of Finland (Tekes). Manuscript, 100 pp. (See the page ’Articles and links’).
Mannermaa, Mika (2000) Globalization and Information Society – Increasing Complexity and Potential Chaos. Article for the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, Ed. by Sohail Inayatullah, 11 p.
Mannermaa, Mika (1997) From Chaos into Global Cultural Coherence. New Renaissance. Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 6-7.
Mannermaa, Mika (1996) On The Way To The Knowledge-Intensive Society: societal and educational development paths in the framework of futures studies. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 40 (1996), No. 1. Pp 25-41.
Mannermaa, Mika (1996) Coherence, Chaos and Alternative Futures. In The Knowledge Base of Futures Studies, vol 3: Directions and Outlooks, Ed. by Richard A. Slaughter. DDM Media Group, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia. Pp. 48-61
Mannermaa, Mika (1995) Alternative Futures Perspectives on Sustainability, Coherence and Chaos. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management. VOL. 3, NO. 1, pp. 27-34.
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