Paul Schoemaker's current research interest centers on his recent and forthcoming books. One major research topic concerns managerial decision making and builds on his book with Jay Russo titled "Winning Decisions: Getting It Right the First Time" (Doubleday, 2001). This book extends their earlier work "Decision Traps" (Simon and Schuster, 1990) and examines how managers can improve their problem framing, intelligence gathering and choice procedures, as well techniques to improve learning from experience.

A second major area of research concerns how managers and firms deal with emerging technologies. Much of this research is conducted through Wharton's Emerging Technologies Management Research Program, of which Dr. Schoemaker is Research Director. The program's first half-decade research was summarized in the book, "Wharton On Managing Emerging Technologies" (Wiley & Sons, April 2000), edited by Professors Day and Schoemaker. The next research phase focuses on how best to manage specific technology platforms, specifically innovations stemming from the confluence of life sciences and information technologies (see www.thinkdsi.com for details).

A third area of active research concerns Schoemaker's new book "Profiting From Uncertainty: Strategies for Succeeding No matter What the Future Brings" (Random House, July2002). This research vein explores the challenges of approaching the future comprehensively rather than piece meal, the value of flexible strategies and options thinking, as well as the importance of dynamic monitoring and real-time adjustment. The focus is on the challenges managers encounter, tools and techniques they use and organizational mechanisms firms employ to improve their agility and responsiveness.

A fourth area of research involves the North American credit union industry. Traditionally this sector was populated by small players operating cooperatively with a strong focus on member service. The changing nature if this industry, as it competes with banks and other financial service providers, has been the subject of several research reports by Schoemaker and his colleagues, including "2010 Scenarios for Credit Unions" (2004), "The Chameleon Scenario Revisited" (April 2000) and "Key Success Factors for Credit Unions" (Feb. 2002); see Future Scopes series at www.cues.org. The strategic, managerial, organizational and cultural issues facing credit unions present a microcosm of the challenges all organizations face.

A final area of research concerns how organizations can develop better peripheral vision. Building on a conference Dr. Schoemaker organized with Prof. George Day at the Wharton School's Mack Center for Technological Innovation, this research addresses how managers can develop a stronger capacity to recognize and act upon weak signals from the periphery before it is too late. Schoemaker edited a special issue on this topic with George Day for "Long Range Planning" , co-authored a "Harvard Business Review" article on scanning (Nov. 2005) and is finishing a book with George Day titled "Peripheral Vision" (Harvard Business School Press, 2006).