Business and Careers
 

The Influence of Mega-Energy Markets: Future of Western Brands’ Marketing

In 2020 there will be one billion new customers to catch, but will corporations get them? Are the traditional big Western corporations able to maintain their leadership? How will they attract customers who fall outside of traditional markets? New markets and populations spread around the world often feel strongly about their cultural identity and are more likely to be persuaded by specific approaches in terms of advertising, marketing, and communications. They aren’t likely to be impressed by obsolete technologies or low quality "copy cat" products. Many multinational companies long for universal pricing and retail conditions, but most of these new customers cannot pay what Westerners can afford. In this session these difficult challenges will be explored.

Who should attend: Business leaders, strategic planners, researchers, interested individuals.
What you'll learn: Attendees will learn how inspirational Western culture is for the middle class in emerging markets and how Western brands will have to adapt to face the rise of global brands from emerging markets.
How can this knowledge be applied: Audiences will be entertained with numerous visuals and examples and exposed to real business cases making the presentation very lively. Some of the latest data gathered by sociologists and anthropologists will nourish the presentation on global consumer behavior. A real learning session for those who know already about the markets and for those interested in the emerging markets but with no clear idea of how corporations and consumers are evolving.

Robert Salmon, former vice-president of L’Oreal, Valais, Switzerland
Mylena Pierremont, president, Ming Pai Consulting BV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Michel Ladet, director, Sofina Ltd, HK, Paris, France

key words: sustainability, capacity building, behavioral change
issue areas: Business and Careers, Social and Cultural Trends, Resources and Environment

What the MBAs Never Learned: The Emergence of Deep Meaning in the Workplace and Its Impact on the Future of Corporate Leadership

The Millennial Generation is demanding work with meaning. Organizational leaders are coming to grips with the need to focus on their choices and on critical issues of sustainability.

All of these trends point to one inescapable fact: spirituality in all forms, and questions of why we do what we do, are influencing today’s workplace dialog.            

In this session, the speakers will briefly present a provocative discussion on this and other themes and an experiential exercise based on new reflective practices currently being used with their organizational clients. We’ll discuss what’s really happening in organizations and where leaders need to put their attention.

Who should attend: Leaders, managers
What you'll learn: Attendees will learn trends in leadership and organizational development, how to integrate spirituality into work decision-making, and reflective practice as a decision making tool. 
How can this knowledge be applied: This new knowledge can be used when managing, leading, inspiring, engaging, making decisions, and focusing an organization on a positive future vision.

Alpesh Bhatt, founder, Koanetic Consulting, Monroe Connecticut; professor, Graduate Psychology Department, University of New Haven
Karlin Sloan, author; founder and CEO, Karlin Sloan and Company, Oak Park, Illinois

key words: organizational leaders, managers
issue areas: Business and Careers, Values and Spirituality

key words: millennials, generations, digital culture, education, demographics
issue areas: Business and Careers, Social and Cultural Trends

Business Futures: Integrating Research and Intelligence for Better Business Results

We business futurists are often preoccupied with using our craft to create a better corporate future. But senior executives expect results from futures exercises much the same way they expect returns on any investment. It is therefore key for business futurists to learn how to partner with other organizations to promote our agenda. Market research and competitive intelligence are often at odds with each other and vie for executive attention, which pulls business futurists into this tug of war. The objective of this session is to suggest a new collaborative approach based on the areas were business futurists can partner with research and intelligence professionals to meet corporate objectives.

The speakers will report on two Delphi panels conducted with competitive intelligence and research professionals, describe ways to classify businesses in phases of process integration, and propose six ways to help integrate the work of business futurists into critical organization processes.

Who should attend: Business futurists, strategic planners, managers and analysts interested in improving productivity while demonstrating value for futures exercises.
What you’ll learn: Attendees will learn ways to classify their organizations in terms of integration and to learn from the experience of others what can be done to achieve greater collaboration between research, intelligence and futuring.
How can this new knowledge be applied: Analysts will receive an easy to read instrument to help them classify their level of integration and six different ways to improve collaboration efforts.

Asia Aslam, research manager, Cisco Corporation, Santa Clara, California
Romulo Werran Gayoso, staff engineer, Intel Corporation, Phoenix, Arizona
Erica Orange, associate, Weiner, Brown, Inc., New York, New York

key words: market research, competitive intelligence, planning
issue areas: Business and Careers, Futures Methodologies

Identifying Future Opportunities in Emerging Countries

This session will present the results of a scenario-based forecasting model that allowed us to identify bottom of the pyramid opportunities in Brazil 12 years before the publication of C.K. Prahalad’s book on the subject. This application demonstrates the power of futures methodologies to anticipate and help create important new strategies for companies, government agencies and NGOs. The forecasting model that was used is extended to other emerging nations, showing how forecasting can be applied in a global setting to help develop international strategies.

Who should attend: The session will provide useful information, insights, and methodology for participants from industry, forecasting practitioners and teachers to forecast market demand trends that will be very important in emerging countries over the next 20 years.
What you’ll learn: This forecasting model will help understand consumer dynamics in emerging markets, allowing managers, marketers and product developers to perceive future needs of these new consumers.
How can this new knowledge be applied: This knowledge can be applied by using the approach to develop scenario forecasting models for areas of interest to the user, based on the framework and form of use presented. An Excel worksheet is all that is required.

James E. Wright, professor, University of São Paulo, head, Future Studies Program, São Paulo, Brazil

key words: scenarios, forecasts
issue areas: Business and Careers, Futures Methodologies, Learning and Education

Meeting the 21st Century demands on organizations to support continuous as well as transformational change to improve human well being is dependent upon good leadership and good citizenship. What are the demands and long-term trends that drive demand? What is good leadership for this next era? The age of heroic leadership is over. Great leadership now occurs in a "culture of leadership" which is expected, developed, and distributed at all levels of the organization where people display their natural ability to learn, adapt, and yes, lead. In addition, effective leaders make a difference; they leave legacies. People remember their leaders: how they made them feel, positive changes they shepherded, or capabilities they helped develop in others.

Who should attend: This session will benefit all people who find themselves with leadership challenges at all levels of organizations.
What you’ll learn: The attendees will learn about both the challenges that create the demand and the talents needed and the climate that fosters a culture of leadership throughout organizations.
How can this new knowledge be applied: This knowledge can be applied by all people who find themselves with leadership challenges at all levels of organizations.

Kenneth W. Hunter, senior fellow, Office of International Programs, University of Maryland, College Park Maryland
Jim Trinka, technical training director, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Washington D.C.
Les Wallace, president, Signature Resources, Inc, Aurora, Colorado

key words: citizenship, leadership
issue area: Business and Careers

This presentation will engage conference attendees in the research findings covered in the book Workforce Wake-Up Call: Your Workforce Is Changing and will reveal how the workforce is becoming less traditionally skilled, increasingly global, highly virtual, vastly diverse, and autonomous and empowered. We will discuss how this next-generation workforce is rendering traditional talent management practices grossly insufficient. The speaker will unveil new rules for managing talent, encouraging organizations to embrace predictive workforce planning, innovative talent sourcing, customized employee relationships, distributed leadership, and harmonious cultures. We’ll also provide examples of leading-edge companies that are employing these next-generation talent management practices.

Who should attend: Business professionals, employers, managers, human resource professionals.
What you’ll learn: Attendees will learn about five unstoppable trends that are transforming the workforce and innovative practices for effectively managing emerging talent.
How can this new knowledge be applied: Employers, managers, and human resource professionals can use this information to better understand their current and future workforces and to develop effective management practices. Individual business professionals can use this information to better understand and adapt to changes in their work environment, such as increased co-worker diversity.

Elissa Tucker: senior researcher, Hewitt Associates, Lincolnshire, Illinois

key words: demographics, workforce, human resources, management, innovation
issue areas: Business and Careers, Social and Cultural Trends

The current impending shortage of talent is going to surprise all those who are not prepared. As baby boomers worldwide look for doctors, physiotherapists and nurses, the United States will be surprised by the global willingness to pay for talent. Japan is looking for more than 100,000 software engineers and 150,000 health professionals. Today a U.S. university education is highly necessary and very unaffordable.

Who should attend: Business executives, NGO officials, educators, and anyone interested in getting a sense of upcoming events that will shape our future.
What you’ll learn: Participants will understand the who, what, and why there is an upcoming shortage of talent worldwide.
How can this new knowledge be applied: Attendees will be able to make more realistic and effective decisions within their organizations as well as in their interactions with people such as customers, suppliers and governmental agencies. The insight gained will transcend national boundaries and will allow participants to go beyond cultural barriers.

Pradnya S. Parulekar, program manager, Helix Corporation, Troy, Michigan
Shashi Parulekar, Asia Pacific market development manager, Parker Hannifin Co. Troy, Michigan

key words: demographics, training, education
issue areas: Business and Careers, Learning and Education, Technology and Science

Futuristic Investing in the Financial Markets: Where are the Assets of Tomorrow?

The dynamics of the "economic era" are changing the functioning of the financial markets. Understanding the new economies of today and tomorrow requires an understanding of the corporate decisions and the systems that are influencing today’s capital investments and today’s opportunities for personal investment.

We will look at financial markets to assess opportunities in the global and American economies. First, we’ll provide a systematic look at the consolidation of the world’s stock exchanges, the rise of private exchanges the influence of private equity and the spread of global capitalism, and we’ll chart the long-term structural shifts in the equity markets and the global economy. We’ll also provide brief scenarios to describe how individuals, businesses, and governments affect trading environments and vice versa.

We’ll provide an analysis of the productivity of the American economy, looking closely at how to identify and promote productive assets. A critical survey of our economic affairs will focus on how financial markets, which we expect to encourage innovation and reward genius, are inhibiting entrepreneurship.

Who should attend: Economists, business people, financial engineers, financiers, and investors interested in understanding the dynamics of the financial markets.
What you’ll learn: Attendees will learn how to decipher stock market behavior versus economic indicators by assessing America’s productive assets, and why the Stock Market is not a reliable indicator of business productivity.
How can this new knowledge be applied: Attendees can use the framework to avoid confusing financial assets with real assets, and to identify signals in stock market behavior as part of their personal and corporate capital investment strategies

Joan Foltz, socio-economic analyst, principal, Alsek Research, Chandler, Arizona
Joel Gibbons, president, Logistic Research & Trading Co.; author, Economics in the Present Tense and Rethinking the Headlines, St. Joseph, Michigan

key words: stock exchanges, investment, globalization, technology, financial asset, productivity
issue areas: Business and Careers, Futures Methodologies, Governance and Communities

For more information contact: World Future Society, 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 450, Bethesda, Maryland 20814;
Tel: 1-800-989-8274 or 1-301-656-8274;  Fax: 1-301-951-0394;  Web Site: www.wfs.org;  E-mail: sechard@wfs.org.