In the current business environment, which is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA), enterprises need to strategize not only to remain competitive and profitable but also be resilient to overcome potential predictable and unpredictable threats. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is one such unanticipated occurrence, which besides having serious implications for public health has significantly impacted businesses in almost all sectors. With the pandemic continuing, enterprises need tools and methodologies to better respond to this situation. Foresight techniques are designed to address these issues, enabling effective policymaking and strategy formulation within organizations to address emerging trends, disruptive global changes, and an uncertain future. The APO has organized various foresight-related projects including a self-learning e-course, training of trainers, workshops, and publication of a trainers’ manual.

To expand the relevance of strategic foresight, the APO Secretariat organized a virtual workshop on Foresight for SMEs, 20–22 April, in cooperation with the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality of Vietnam. This workshop covered approaches to managing complex future scenarios, horizon scanning, policy roadmaps to enhance FDI using foresight, and group work where participants prepared recommendations for managing possible futures.

Forty-seven participants from 13 APO members attended the workshop. Two local experts from Vietnam and two international experts (one each from Australia and India) delivered presentations and facilitated the group work related to foresight for SMEs in a VUCA environment.