Previous research has paid little attention to the future perspective (visioning) as part of market-shaping processes in business networks. Visioning in business networks implies that business actors take a future outlook when strategizing, managing and enacting changes in the network, yet empirical research on network visioning is scarce and methods for the study of network visioning are not readily available. Thus, this study draws from and contributes theoretically and methodologically to research on market-shaping, business network studies, and futures research with the purpose to explore market-shaping actors’ network visioning in the context of emerging radical innovation. The study is conducted through an extensive exploratory case study featuring a complex network of actors in the context of autonomous shipping. The case focuses on business actors in a strategic net together envisioning their desired future market in a situation where radical innovation is anticipated to happen, and as a result fundamentally change the way the market currently works. It is expected that through networked foresight, market-shaping actors are able to gain a wider knowledge base for their network visioning, which in turn allows them to shape the market in a desired direction for radical innovation to realize. The research results will particularly benefit Finnish maritime players who are actively involved in creating the future of autonomous shipping, as well as policy makers whose decisions support these creative efforts.

2022