New global trends study ‘Competition, Disruption, and Deception’ highlights priorities
- Details
- Published: Wednesday, 19 September 2018 07:28
A new report by A.T. Kearney's Global Business Policy Council looks at the trends that will shape the global outlook and operating environment through 2023, highlighting areas where resiliency needs improving.
In the ‘Competition, Disruption, and Deception’ report the authors say that various aspects of Sino-American competition, the next generation of fake news, and profound shifts in the future of food are among the key trends and they argue that companies must build resiliency to these shifts by preparing contingency plans, improving cyber security, and localizing operations in the Indo-Pacific, among other strategies.
The Indo-Pacific is central to many of the trends that the report identifies, making this mega-region both more important to the commercial success of multinational corporations and more difficult for companies to navigate. One aspect is that the United States and China have emerged as the dominant players in a global battle for technological supremacy. The winner will have outsized economic, political, and military influence for years to come. More broadly, China's rising economic and diplomatic engagements throughout the Indo-Pacific are challenging the decades-long role of the United States as the region's leading power.
Better public education will be needed to fight the damaging effect of fake news, according to the report. While fake news has already proven costly to governments, businesses, and societies around the world, the authors argue that the next generation of fake news will prove more disruptive still. "Get ready for even more volatility with respect to fake news," cautions Erik Peterson, managing director of the Global Business Policy Council and co-author of the study. "Next-generation fake news leverages falsified video and audio, which are much harder to disprove and could therefore further undermine public trust."
Technological innovations are also enabling a clean food revolution. This trend of eating foods that are healthier, relatively unprocessed, and more environmentally sustainable is driven by a dramatic shift in consumer preferences as well. "On the one hand, consumers are taking a back-to-basics approach to feed themselves and their families," says Courtney Rickert McCaffrey, manager of thought leadership for the Global Business Policy Council and co-author of the study. "On the other hand, consumers are embracing a changing meat mix that includes cultured meat, plant-based meat substitutes, and insect protein. This innovation will dramatically change how people around the world consume protein."
