In a future marked by climate change, recurring crises, and technological transformations, how will the very nature of enterprises, their business models, and ways of operating transform? What role could companies play with regard to these changes?
This reflection is rendered all the more necessary as virtually no foresight on the future of corporations exists. The Emerging Enterprise project aims to fill this gap.
From 2020 to 2022, The Emerging Enterprise, initiated by U+, brought together representatives from more than 40 businesses operating in France, as well as one trade union (CFDT), the National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions (Anact), and researchers, to imagine 12 companies of the year 2050 with the help of 5 science fiction writers.
The methodology blended classic foresight elements with the use of imagination and fiction. Together, participants imagined what companies of the future might look like and brought back challenges, avenues for action, and points of debate relevant today.
Within certain organizations, “landing workshops” enabled us to link this work to each firm’s current strategic challenges.
The 12 composite texts that arose from these workshops contain numerous ideas and points for consideration – some already known but here placed in a foresight context, some truly new.
From these fictions, we extracted 10 “Archetypes” of businesses of 2050.
By publishing this work, our intention is to create a space for inventive and open discussion about the transformation of organizations, and to do so with the people that comprise them.