Author Description

The Global Trends Report 2013: Towards a Distributed Future, is an invaluable guide to the global trends that are reshaping the world in which we will live and operate in the future. Businesses today face a significant challenge in operating in two extreme timeframes: Responding to rising short-term pressures while simultaneously preparing their organizations for fundamental longer-term changes reshaping world markets. To reconcile the "gap" between these two mindsets, it is critical to a point of view on the future to guide and shape actions today. The Global Trends Report 2013 helps leaders to translate the mass of data about how the world is changing into actions to prepare their organizations for the future today. It addresses three main topics: a) What is happening, i.e. the data; b) What are the resulting challenges and opportunities, i.e. understanding and implications; and finally, c) What are the questions you need to ask to be able to prepare for action today. An overriding theme in the GT 2013 Report is that the world is becoming more distributed, not only in terms of increasingly mobile and globally dispersed consumption, but also increasingly in terms of production, resources, knowledge and power which are increasingly managed through dispersed networks. Power is shifting from West to East, reflecting the growing power of BRICS markets; at the same time it is shifting from traditional institutions towards individuals, communities and businesses. Distributed networks and collaboration are more important than ever, not only to address global issues including resource scarcity, but also to create and capture value in a world of more demanding consumers and customers. Consumer power, aided by technology, is redefining what is value (and thus what they are willing to pay for versus commodities that are expected to be free), and increasingly reshaping whole markets and industries. So what is changing? The Global Trends Report 2013 offers insights, i