Critical to finding the difference-makers in future strategies and plans is knowledge of the terrain the world is going to traverse in the future. Based on the concept of alternative scenarios, this service analyzes drivers and constraints, key future events, wild cards and tipping points, quantitative forecasts, and current research and industry activities. It provides likely probabilities of major scenarios and insights into what to do about each selected scenario.

A structured approach that we call "The Ladder" is applied to identify the most effective market for introducing a disruptive technology, determine a strategy for attacking the market that avoids dilution of ownership, and chart an implementation path. Using a number of tools, we uncover the potential, key requirements, value propositions, industry structure, and other information that lets the emerging technology company choose a first market while preparing for an easy fallback if needed.

For a large organization operating with a wide range of technologies (or potential technologies), it is important to balance the market and technology in a dynamic technology investment portfolio to equalize opportunity, appropriately allot resources, and meet corporate strategic goals. The market technology matrix is a unique Strategic Pathways  approach to selecting the optimal mix of opportunities to pursue by assessing technology readiness, market potential, and strategic fit across all stages of definition from idea to a business case. This methodology, while structured, does not sacrifice innovation, first-to-market, buy-in, or completeness of solution.

An organization needs to be constantly on the lookout for new technologies that could enhance the organization’s capabilities, or that may be a competitive threat. Based on knowledge of the organization's strategies and key programs, we use advanced scanning and surveillance techniques combined with experience in technology patterns to connect the dots between those technologies and their impact on your organization.

The Strategic Pathways  team will work with your science, research, and technology teams to create an actionable, market-focused, and risk-mitigated plan that can be communicated, measured, and adapted. Activities in this area include red teaming, ideation sessions, morphological analysis, process development, and brick wall analysis. Some of the unique approaches the team uses are multimedia content, transmitting science and technology concepts, and "over the horizon” programs, to bring breakthrough technologies to potential commercialization partners.

Strategic Pathways assists firms and government agencies in creating all levels of roadmaps based on need: from product and technology, to market services, to asset/knowledge, to capabilities roadmaps. A roadmap is a remarkable communication tool that provides visibility into the impact of strategies and plans on all stakeholders in a shared vehicle. Roadmaps seek insights into alternative development paths, dependencies, and when to worry. The team helps clients in all phases of the roadmapping process, using its customizable framework built over the years from landmark projects such as the first National Semiconductor Industry Roadmap that was instrumental in the U.S. regaining leadership in the semiconductor industry, a mainstay in today’s digital convergence and 50 year roadmaps for DoD.

Strategy maps are good tools for communicating a strategy to the organization in terms of key metrics embodied in a scorecard that acknowledges both quantitative and qualitative measures. We have advanced this technique to address the new realities of capabilities targeting, collaboration within and without the organization, and future perspectives; all are necessary to make the strategy and its measures dynamic, actionable, and more understandable.

Strategic Foresight analyses bring the human side into technology trends. It also serves to involve a wide range of stakeholders and thinkers to create a more comprehensive, realistic, and accepted view of the future. Besides using the traditional tools of this methodology (Delphi surveys, scenario workshops, impact analysis, scenarios), we extend the activity to involve a more extensive use of tools such as advanced brainstorming techniques, care-about analysis, and weak signal analysis to make the resulting scenarios more complete and planning actions more appropriate