Six Things That Will Impact Your Business In 2007

By Steven S. Little

If you're like most business owners and executives, you spend most of your time and energy focusing on the day-to-day tasks of running your business. As a result, you probably seldom take time to step back and examine the trends shaping your business, your industry and the world as a whole.

The fact is, there are major changes happening in our nation and our world right now that will affect your company's future—over the short, medium and long term. Taking the time periodically to examine these macro-changes and their potential impact on your business may give you the insight you need to make bold, dramatic moves when they need to be made. The following is a quick look at six of these trends and what they might mean to your business.

Dramatic Demographic Shifts
Much has been made of the aging of the general population in the U.S. and what this might mean down the road. The potential depletion of the Social Security trust fund is probably the most publicized (and politicized) example. But aging isn't just happening in the U.S.—the trend is actually even more pronounced in Japan, where one-fourth of the population is now over age 55, and Western Europe, where the average age will soon be 50. Indeed, by 2030, 50 percent of Germany's population will be over the age of 65. With advances in technology and medicine, it's not unrealistic to believe that many 40-year-olds today will live another 100 years.

Interestingly, at the same time that the general population is aging, there are also more and more young people in this country (albeit, it is a smaller percentage of the population as a whole). Statistics show that the number of incoming college freshmen in the U.S. is increasing by 300,000 each year. These trends of an older general population and a growing population will influence our values, politics and business processes. Now is the time to think about how they may affect your hiring, purchasing and selling practices and patterns both here and abroad.

Even More Urbanization
Urbanization is a worldwide trend that has been developing for the past 200 years and shows no signs of slowing down. Consider that at the time of the Declaration of Independence, London was the largest city on earth with a population of under 1 million people. By 1900, 11 cities worldwide had populations of more than 1 million people. And by 2000, 25 cities worldwide had populations of more than 10 million people.

In 1900, only one in seven people worldwide lived in urban areas, and as recently as 1960 this was up to only about a third of the world's population. But by 2025, this number will jump all the way to 62 percent of the world's population becoming urbanized.

Meanwhile, here in the U.S., people with higher net worth are increasingly decentralizing. In other words, Boomers with money are seeking the good life in places like Bozeman, Montana, and Asheville, North Carolina, moving away from the perception and realities of traffic, crime and pollution in our top 50 markets.

These changes change everything, because where we live has a dramatic effect on how we live.

The Spreading of Spanish
Here in the U.S., it won't be long before 15 percent of families will speak Spanish as their first language—and this number will approach 20 percent in our lifetime. Position your company now to take advantage of the fact that one in five Americans will be more comfortable speaking Spanish than English someday in your business's lifetime.

It's also critical to understand the many different cultures represented by this language. Lumping all Spanish speakers together can result in unintended stereotypes. For example, while Cuban, Mexican and Latin American immigrants may share a common language, they are as different culturally as Irish, Scottish and British immigrants were in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

New Types of Workers
It's no secret that the number of stay-at-home workers, or teleworkers, has been slowly rising for the past half-dozen years or so. More and more employees are seeking out the kinds of progressive employers who are willing to accommodate telework arrangements that help employees find the kind of work-life balance that brings more fulfillment in every area of their lives. Businesses that don't begin to plan for how they can meet the needs of teleworkers will soon risk losing the best and brightest employees to their competitors.

Have you heard the term “workampreneurs” yet? If not, chances are you will. Approximately 750,000 people now live and work out of recreational vehicles, and 74,000 of them subscribe to a magazine targeted to those who run businesses out of their RVs, a segment the magazine Workamper News calls workampreneurs. This is just one example of our increasingly mobile society.

Biotechnology Affects Everything
The strength of the orb weaver spider's web silk has been well-known to researchers for many years. Smaller in diameter than a human hair, a one-inch wide cable made of the material could support the weight of a jumbo jet.

Scientists have isolated the gene that produces the strong silk protein and have “inserted” that gene into the complex 70,000-chromosome organism known as the Nigerian dwarf goat. From the goat's milk, they are then able to extract a protein that can produce a bullet proof vest that is three times the strength of Kevlar, at only one-third the weight. While this example amazes most people to hear, what really amazes me is that the story is already five years old! It's old news! They are now crossing the same silk gene with a specific tobacco plant, hoping to gain even greater efficiencies in production.

Every hour of every day, biotechnologists around the globe are splicing and dicing genes and genomes, looking to improve the human condition. You can just assume it will affect your business.

The Rise of Globalization
Globalization can mean lots of different things, but here's how I sum it up: Globalization is the idea that everything around the world is interconnected, and no country, market, organization or company is isolated from the effects of events happening around the world.

From a business perspective, getting your company to the next level will be increasingly about learning how to take advantage of this dominant macro-change. While part of it may be buying and selling outside of your immediate geographic area, it's really more about being conscious and aware of what's going on in the world around you and the impact it may have on your business. Business growth leaders are better able to see the future of their opportunity. Let's keep our eyes and ears open.

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The MHEDA Journal • First Quarter 2007 • Volume 36, No. 1 • Contents are Copyright © Data Key Communications, Inc.
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