In times of great upheaval in society, the very foundations of life and business undergo changes that transform industries and companies. The emergence of earth shattering business trends redefines the way business is conducted and profits are realized. The following four business trends will reshape business and society.
Business Trend: Information Inflation
Information has never been so free and readily available as today. While the price of information has dropped, the supply of data has exploded creating information inflation and a whole set of new problems for the future.
One such industry grappling with this trend is the legal system. “Information inflation reflects the fact that civilization has entered a new phase. Human beings are now integrated into reality quite differently than before. They can instantaneously write to millions. They engage in the real time writing of instant messages, wikis, blogs, and avatars,” stated by George Paul in Information Inflation: Can the Legal System Adapt?
Information forms the basis of decision making. For businesses to compete, they will require skills and technology to find the truly valuable data in a universe of exploding content.
Business Trend: The Frugal Consumer
Consumerism will not be the same following the great recession. We have entered an era of the frugal consumer according to economist Peter Dawson. He views this as a shift towards a more permanent condition of consumerism which will change the way businesses operate.
Companies of all sizes will need to re-evaluate old business assumptions and adapt to new conditions. People of all income and demographic levels are reducing compulsive spending and carefully looking for value and products that provide greater meaning to their lives.
Business Trend: Mighty Millennials
Millennials, also known as Generation Y, born between 1978 and 2000 are 75 million strong. This cohort has lived the digital life and their entrance into the workforce has enabled them to be more adaptable, collaborative and innovative than any other generation. What’s more earth shattering about this generation is their diversity and how they embrace all cultures, classes and community.
Neil Howe has been a great predictor of generational impact on American society. Howe sees us entering a crisis point and the Millennials will lead the country out of this mess. Businesses will have to embrace the youth unlike never before.
Business Trend: Clean and Green
Green business is nothing new yet what is different is it’s now becoming a central business movement for many companies including the stodgy automakers. Given a presidential push, the green movement has accelerated into overdrive. With billions in government stimulus and venture capital, the earth friendly companies in bio fuels, solar, wind and more will stand to reap big rewards going forward as the face of commerce changes for the benefit of Mother Earth.
These four business trends will pose a challenge for business and society as a whole. What we see now is an entire restructuring of the world as we know it. Business will need the agility and adaptability to ride these trends into the future.
