This book offers an exciting and straightforward overview of major global economic trends during the next twenty years and how these will impact upon both businesses and the every day lives of their employees. Is a unique book in that it combines the discussion of macroeconomic trends and how these impact upon corporate strategic as well as personal lifestyle issues. It is the kind of book that Charles Handy would have written twenty years ago. Whereas most present day business books focus on either broader macro trends or more focused business issues, this book combines both. It is targeted to senior and middle managers working in organisations that are on the front line in terms of the strategic impact on their businesses of globalisation, the rise of India and China as dominant economies and the information/communication revolution. The author has written the book on the basis of his experience of giving corporate presentations to no fewer than seven hundred private and public sector organisations over the past twenty years. The outline of the book is as follows:

Chapter One: Global Appetites, Local Tastes

The rise of India and China; the growth of global supply chains; the impact of the internet for bringing 2.5 billion people into the global economy; the leap into the information age by India and China; the necessity for the reinvention of western business practices for seizing future global opportunities; the need for western corporations to reconfigurate their processes, to draw upon global resources to meet focused local market needs.

Chapter Two: Is Your Company Doomed – At Least In Its Present Form?

The business of the future; corporate celebrities, lieutenants, stalwarts, travellers and orphans; the need to be nice – the growing importance of sociability for creativity, innovation and competitive advantage – the redesign of the work space to encourage face to face interaction in an internet age; the break up of corporate elephants into entrepreneurial fleas; the need for continuous reinvention of product portfolios; rebranding the brand for competitive advantage.

Chapter Three: Hunting, Farming and Fulfilling Future Talent

“Upside down” reward systems; why do education systems fail to deliver; women and ethnic minorities as wasted talent; academic intelligence is not enough; money is not enough for doing the job.

Chapter Four: Too Many Managers, Not Enough Leaders

Managers as the scourge of all organisations; leadership is about inspiration, admiration and trust; the value driven corporation; leadership is not just at the top – we all have to be leaders now; what are business schools up to?

Chapter Five: Young Asia Meets Old West

The demographic time bomb; the death of Europe as a viable economic zone; the rise of consumer spend in India and China; the restructuring of markets in the west focused upon the needs of the old and, more importantly, single person households.

Chapter Six: Hello to Lifestyle Tribes and What They Mean For Your Business

Forget about age, occupation and income as market segments; older consumers are more adventurous and have bigger spend than the under-35s; forget about the job, spend, spend, spend for personal identity; if I don’t belong to Harley Davidson, what tribe do I belong to that dictates my purchasing patterns; lifestyle tribes – the detonator of CRN systems; time for corporations to get real in their marketing strategies and for advertising agencies to earn their fees.

Chapter Seven: The Politics of Tomorrow and What It Means For Business Here and Overseas

Business opportunities in uncertain political environments; the impact of terrorism for corporate decision making; the political structure of India, China, Russia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa for business growth opportunities; the changing role of national governments in attracting foreign direct inward investment for economic growth, the problems of corporate governance in a globalised economy when companies can swiftly shift from one compliance regime to the next.

Chapter Eight: What Does This All Mean For Me?

This chapter pulls together its various themes and lists the impact of these for managing personal work and family lifestyles. What we are today, we will not be tomorrow.