How to avoid being a pie in the sky?

In the “Going from global trend to corporate strategy”[i] the author claims that anticipating the impact of global trend can help companies succeed by riding the current. The author also insists that “executives must understand the full range of sub trends behind each trend and how they interact to affect many industries”.

As global trends shape the business, they will inevitably affect competition among global companies. However, it is quite difficult for companies to analyze the complex nature of global trends. Even if they have the resources to analyze global trends, it might be challenging to be able to prepare second and third impacts effects among the whole company. Although the author of the article emphasizes strategic planning and quick response to innovation, it is not realistic for global companies, especially for large companies. 

One of the ways for global companies to get information about global trends is outsourcing. Asking consulting firms or think-tanks to research global trends focusing on their industries might be an effective solution compared with owning the research department. The big questions is how to companies use the information to build their strategies and implement them?

I’ve not found out a workable answer toward this issue yet. It is easy to brainstorm and be imaginative with new innovations and deal with them flexibly. However, executives might struggle with this approach because they cannot do it easily. So how can global company executives manage avoid their strategies being a pie in the sky?

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[i] Wendy Becker. "Going from global trends to corporate strategy" The Mckinsey Quarterly 2006