Time horizon: The moving boundary

Abstract

This paper surveys the problem of moving boundaries in physicochemical, biological, managerial, socioeconomic and cybernetic systems and in its spatial as well as temporal aspects. It is shown that a time horizon is a moving boundary which separates the foreseeable from the unforeseeable future. Its specification is required for unambiguous forecasts of short-range and long-range behavior of the system under study. In general, the entropy or uncertainty of transition across the time horizon has a paraboloid distribution. In socioeconomic systems it is especially important to distinguish between ex ante and ex post forecasts and to specify not only the errors in the variables, but also in their relations. Various computational methods used in the analysis of moving boundary problems are indicated in the literature.w

Chapter 7 A Discourse Perspective on Creating Organizational Knowledge: The Case of Strategizing

“…The future orientation that defines knowledge generation is captured in the concept of a time horizon (Baghai et al, 1999;Das, 1987;Taschdjian, 1977). Taschdjian (1977) defines a 'horizon [as] a boundary which moves back as we move towards it' (in Das, 1991, p.53).…”

“…The future orientation that defines knowledge generation is captured in the concept of a time horizon (Baghai et al, 1999;Das, 1987;Taschdjian, 1977). Taschdjian (1977) defines a 'horizon [as] a boundary which moves back as we move towards it' (in Das, 1991, p.53). What constitutes an appropriate time horizon is not fixed and may vary with, for example, someone's role or seniority in an organization: while a frontline manager may have to consider the next 3 to 12 months, a Group CEO's time span might extend to 10 to 20 years or beyond.…”

“…To develop a more specific answer, we draw on the concepts of interweaving (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997) and intertextuality (Keenoy & Oswick, 2004;Riad, Vaara, & Zhang, 2012). We connect this with the concept of horizon; that is, 'a boundary which moves back as we move towards it' (Taschdjian (1977) in Das, 1991, p.53). In the next section we discuss time and context horizons from a discursive perspective and how these impact on an epistemology of theorizing and knowledge production.…”

“…To date, the term 'horizon' has been used to designate a horizon for time only (Baghai et al, 1999;Das, 1987;Taschdjian, 1977). We extend the use of this term use to encompass a context horizon.…”