The four mega-trends that every company needs to prepare for

How can companies adapt in such a fast-moving global environment? Richard Hardyment highlights four trends that could help companies cope, and flourish.

“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons”, predicted Popular Mechanics magazine in 1949. In the same decade, Thomas Watson, the CEO of IBM, reportedly said that “there is a world market for maybe five computers”.

Today, nearly 6 billion people have access to mobile phones and 2.2 billion use the internet. So making predictions is a fool’s errand as no-one has a crystal ball. But our world is changing rapidly. So how can companies prepare?

Corporate Citizenship recently identified the four mega-trends that we believe every company should prepare for. By looking at trends, rather than making predictions, our Future Business report sets out a series of challenges and opportunities for companies to consider.

“CRUNCH”  examines how rising demand and limited supplies means that it’s crunch time for key resources such as energy, food and water. We look at how sustainable business models could become a value-added imperative.

“FRAGMENT” suggests that traditional power structures are breaking down as government dominance gives way to diverse new actors including social enterprises, not-for-profits, corporations and engaged citizens. Businesses of the future will embrace this fragmentation and play their part in delivering society’s big goals.

The third mega-trend, “CONNECT”, looks at the emergence of new digital platforms that allow billions of people to share information instantaneously. Privacy and security concerns will accelerate and novel forms of scrutiny will mean that companies are no longer able to hide from demands for transparency.

Finally, “RE-BALANCE” is the geographical backdrop that will see new nations growing in economic, political and cultural power. Massive opportunities are arising to meet the social, environmental and economic needs of these diverse populations. Business in the coming decades will emerge from, engage with and be shaped by, the ideological influences of countries like Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey, India and China.

Our report examines how these mega-trends will fuse and interact. We believe that for companies to take a leadership position they need to tackle the four mega-trends strategically.

The truth is that even though we cannot make predictions about what lies ahead, it doesn’t mean we can’t prepare. By keeping these mega-trends in mind, forward-thinking organisations can not only stay ahead in this changing landscape, but they can thrive, whatever the future holds.

Richard Hardyment is an Associate Director at Corporate Citizenship