Collective intelligence process to interpret weak signals and early warnings

Abstract

The treatment of weak signals is identified as a method to identify strategic surprises in a firm's environment. Many researchers address the problem of anticipation of movements that have an impact on a firm's environment. Weak signals are considered in some approaches and presented in the literature, but also other methods are explored. This article tries to deepen the discussion of how to treat and interpret weak signals collected in a firm's environment. The concept of a weak signal is explained and the discussion about how to collect and interpret them is presented. Two important aspects are distinguished in the article: the usefulness of information technology in collection and treatment of weak signals and the concept of collective sensemaking in interpreting weak signals. Two cases of weak signal interpretation are presented as illustrations.