Futurecast


Book Description

The former Clinton Administration Under Secretary of Commerce presents a vision of the world in the near future, speculating that three major forces--globalization, demographics, and the rise of a new superpower--will determine how nations rise and fall.




Futurecast


Book Description

The world and culture are changing at a pace beyond anything ever seen in history. But where will all these changes lead? We need accurate information that will give us a real sense of what’s happening now—and what’s about to happen—in key areas of our lives, including family life, technology, media and entertainment, attitudes and values, and religious beliefs and behavior. In Futurecast, bestselling author and renowned researcher George Barna presents a timely look at the world we’re creating every day. He offers solid data to show the path society is on, a guide to what’s coming next, and unparalleled insights into how we can prepare for the changes that lie ahead.




Futurecast


Book Description

What will life be like in America, Europe, Japan or China in the year 2020? As everyone's lives across the world are become increasingly interconnected by globalization and new technologies quicken the pace of everything, the answer to that question depends on the fate and paths of the world's major nations. In Futurecast, Robert Shapiro, former U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce and Chairman/Co-founder of Sonecon, looks into the future to tell us what our world will over the next dozen years. Though that time span seems brief, Shapiro foresees monumental changes caused by three historic new forces—globalization, the aging of societies, and the rise of America as a sole superpower with no near peer— will determine the paths of nations and the lives of countless millions. What jobs will there be for you and your children? What will happen to your health care? How safe will you be at home or abroad? Answers to these questions will depend, even more than today, on where you live in the world: • Even as China expands its military and its economy, America will be the world's sole superpower for at least the next generation, and continue to lead efforts to preserve global security and stability. • The U.S. and China will be the world's two indispensable economies, dominating the course of globalization. • Globalization will continue to shift most heavy manufacturing and millions of high-end service jobs from advanced countries like the US, to China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Romania, Turkey and other developing nations. • Europe's major nations and Japan will face the prospect of genuine economic decline and critical problems in their retirement pension systems, moving further towards the periphery of global economic and geopolitical power. • Every major country—the U.S., Europe, Japan, China—will face critical problems with their health care systems, and the entire world will face a crisis over energy and climate change. If one adds the wildcard of possible, catastrophic terrorist attacks to this mix, the period between now and 2020 will be as challenging as any in modern times. Taking these deep global developments into account when planning for the future isa necessity. Robert Shapiro's clear-eyed Futurecast is the knowledge portfolio you need to prepare for the years to come.




Data Sources


Book Description




Innovation and the Future Proof Bank


Book Description

Innovation, the conversion of the new to business as usual, is a very special business process. It is the business process able to reprogram all others. Creating the practices that make this process work is a key challenge for all in financial services that are worried about responding to the future. When an institution can identify things that are outside its present practices and convert them, production line style, into products, processes, cultural changes, or new markets, it will never be outpaced by internal or external change again. The institution becomes "FutureProof". This is a book about those practices in banks. It explains, using examples from institutions around the world, what it takes to create an innovation culture that consistently introduces new things into undifferentiated markets and internal cultures. It shows how banks can leverage the power of the new to establish unexpected revenue lines, or make old ones grow. And it provides advice on the social and political factors that either help or hinder the germination of the new in banks. Moreover, though, this is a book about the science of innovation in a banking context. Drawing from practices already highly developed in financial services—managing portfolios of assets to mitigate risk—it explains how practitioners can run their innovations groups like any other business line in the bank one that delivers a return on investment predictably and at high multiples of internal cost of capital. For leaders, Innovation and the Future Proof Bank provides the diagnostic tools to guide benchmarking and investment decisions for the innovation function. And for innovation practitioners, the book lays out everything needed to make sure that converting the new to business as usual is predictable, measurable, and profitable.




Threatcasting


Book Description

Impending technological advances will widen an adversary’s attack plane over the next decade. Visualizing what the future will hold, and what new threat vectors could emerge, is a task that traditional planning mechanisms struggle to accomplish given the wide range of potential issues. Understanding and preparing for the future operating environment is the basis of an analytical method known as Threatcasting. It is a method that gives researchers a structured way to envision and plan for risks ten years in the future. Threatcasting uses input from social science, technical research, cultural history, economics, trends, expert interviews, and even a little science fiction to recognize future threats and design potential futures. During this human-centric process, participants brainstorm what actions can be taken to identify, track, disrupt, mitigate, and recover from the possible threats. Specifically, groups explore how to transform the future they desire into reality while avoiding an undesired future. The Threatcasting method also exposes what events could happen that indicate the progression toward an increasingly possible threat landscape. This book begins with an overview of the Threatcasting method with examples and case studies to enhance the academic foundation. Along with end-of-chapter exercises to enhance the reader’s understanding of the concepts, there is also a full project where the reader can conduct a mock Threatcasting on the topic of “the next biological public health crisis.” The second half of the book is designed as a practitioner’s handbook. It has three separate chapters (based on the general size of the Threatcasting group) that walk the reader through how to apply the knowledge from Part I to conduct an actual Threatcasting activity. This book will be useful for a wide audience (from student to practitioner) and will hopefully promote new dialogues across communities and novel developments in the area.




Stronger Still


Book Description

In this interactive six-week Bible study for becoming a more spiritually mature Christian, Ellison encourages growth during troubled times. Stronger Still shows how God is with us, strengthening us, when the night is dark--before, during, and after a crisis.




Generation Z


Book Description

No other generation in history has received as much coverage as the Millennial generation. Books, Google searches, blogs, and news articles are everywhere about them. Yet, Generation Z is comprised of our youth and young adults today and has received very little attention comparatively. Those in Generation Z are among our youngest consumers, students, colleagues, constituents, voters, and neighbors. Being able to better understand who they are and how they see the world can be helpful in effectively working with, teaching, supervising, and leading them. Generation Z: A Century in the Making offers insight into nearly every aspect of the lives of those in Generation Z, including a focus on their career aspirations, religious beliefs and practices, entertainment and hobbies, social concerns, relationships with friends and family, health and wellness, money management, civic engagement, communication styles, political ideologies, technology use, and educational preferences. Drawing from an unprecedented number of studies with higher education research institutions, market research firms such as Pew and Census, other generational researchers and industry leaders, this is the authoritative defining work on Generation Z that market researchers, consumer behaviour specialists, and employers sorely need – and it is a fascinating read for anyone interested in the sociology of generations.




Marketing to Gen Z


Book Description

With bigger challenges come great opportunities, and Marketing to Gen Z wants to help you get ahead of the game when it comes to understanding and reaching this next generation of buyers. Having internalized the lessons of the Great Recession, Generation Z blends the pragmatism and work ethic of older generations with the high ideals and digital prowess of youth. For brands, reaching this mobile-first and socially conscious cohort requires real change, not just tweaks to the Millennial plan. In Marketing to Gen Z, businesses will learn how to: Get past the 8-second filter Avoid blatant advertising and tap influencer marketing Understand their language and off-beat humor Offer the shopping experiences they expect Marketing to Gen Z dives into and explains all this and much more, so that businesses may most effectively connect and converse with the emerging generation that is expected to comprise 40 percent of all consumers by 2020. Now is the time to learn who they are and what they want!




Thriving in a New World Economy


Book Description

This volume includes the full proceedings from the 2012 World Marketing Congress and Cultural Perspectives in Marketing held in Atlanta, Georgia with the theme Thriving in a New World Economy. The focus of the conference and the enclosed papers is on global marketing thought, issues and practices. This volume presents papers on various topics including marketing management, marketing strategy, and consumer behavior. Founded in 1971, the Academy of Marketing Science is an international organization dedicated to promoting timely explorations of phenomena related to the science of marketing in theory, research, and practice. Among its services to members and the community at large, the Academy offers conferences, congresses and symposia that attract delegates from around the world. Presentations from these events are published in this Proceedings series, which offers a comprehensive archive of volumes reflecting the evolution of the field. Volumes deliver cutting-edge research and insights, complimenting the Academy’s flagship journals, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) and AMS Review. Volumes are edited by leading scholars and practitioners across a wide range of subject areas in marketing science.​