Future Perspectives Across Italian Companies

This thesis investigates how leading Italian companies envision and communicate their futures through strategic narratives included in their most recent annual reports. The study employs a qualitative, framework-driven approach based on corporate foresight theory, apply-ing three frameworks — the Polak Game, the Four Archetypes of the Future, and the Futures Cone — to investigate the relationship among organisational future perceptions, perceived control, and strategic orientation. The analysis was developed using a sample of 33 companies from the Basic Materials, Communication Services, and Consumer Cyclical sectors, resulting in 2,190 coded segments that pertained to various frameworks and themes, including innova-tion, sustainability, digitalisation, and talent. The findings reflect a prevalence of positive, growth-oriented, and frequently sustaina-bility- and innovation-driven narratives, despite varying focuses on sectors and narrative styles. Possibility or probability statements are fewer in number than aspiration statements and cer-tainty communication styles, indicating a preference for the status quo, which favours con-trolled, identity-based visions. The study contributes to the understanding of corporate future imaginaries by empha-sising how Italian companies align communication, long-term positioning, and organisational readiness in an environment shaped by fragility, regulatory change and pressures coming from global transformation.