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In this excerpt from her book Put the Future on the Agenda, Charlotte Kemp frames the return on investment (ROI) of strategic foresight by comparing it to two familiar corporate functions: insurance and research & development (R&D). She argues that strategic foresight delivers value through two primary mechanisms—risk reduction (preventing avoidable disasters) and the capture of future opportunities (creating new value streams). While the benefits may not appear in the next quarterly board meeting, building foresight capacity equips organizations to avoid costly surprises and to innovate over the longer term. The passage emphasizes that strategic foresight is a strategic capability rather than a short‑term profit driver.
