Middle-Class Employment Trends
Hardly a day goes by that we don't see stories about high unemployment among middle-class workers. As the Trends...
The New World of Digital Fabrication
Digital fabrication makes it possible to go from a digital design in a computer to a physical, manufactured product in...
Are Category Killers About to Get Kil...
A decade ago, so-called category killers like Best Buy, Staples, PetSmart, and Home Depot were the clear winners in...
How We Can Reignite America’s Manufac...
Some people think U.S. manufacturing is dead or dying, and that it will play an increasingly small role in our 21st...
Benefits and the Coming Employee Retention Cr...
published on: Oct 7, 2011
Recent surveys show that an extraordinary number of American workers are dissatisfied and would like to leave their employers. However, they feel...
Hard Realities Put Regulatory Assumptions Und...
published on: Sep 2, 2011
History consistently shows that the slow and unresponsive mechanisms of government cannot create economic value over the long run. At best, in times...
Building a Productivity-Optimizing Workplace
published on: Jul 7, 2011
Over the past decade, U.S. economic growth has come almost solely from increased productivity. To keep this productivity growth going, firms will...
The End of the Defined Benefit
published on: Jun 6, 2011
China is not the only major nation reaching the end of an era. After roughly 75 years, Americans have come to take for granted the “defined...
The Challenge of "Media-Addicted" Consumers, ...
published on: Jun 6, 2011
For the past decade, the Trends editors have been examining the ways in which the Millennial Generation is being shaped by its constant access to...
European Malaise
published on: Mar 28, 2011
Those who fear a so-called North American Union may be especially frightened by the possibility that the United States might become the kind of...
Productivity: The Gift that Never Stops Givin...
published on: Mar 15, 2011
The brightest spot in the current recovery so far is the continued strong growth in productivity. Productivity growth, enabled by technology and...
Business "Invention" and "Re-Invention": The ...
published on: Feb 15, 2011
Today, it's not enough to have great products, great business processes, and great marketing. If you don't do it first, your competitors will invent...
Corporate Social Responsibility Heads for Obl...
published on: Feb 15, 2011
As the Trends editors have made clear in prior issues, the rationale for so-called Corporate Social Responsibility is fundamentally flawed. That...
The Virtual Office Gains Momentum
published on: Jan 15, 2011
Until the industrial revolution began in the 18th century, more than 90 percent of people farmed or worked in small craft shops attached to their...
Retraining the American Workforce
published on: Nov 15, 2010
Today, job postings are expanding far faster than new hires in spite of record high unemployment. What's going on? As the Trends editors have long...
The Coming M&A Boom
published on: Oct 15, 2010
The Great Recession effectively put an end to M&A activity worldwide. But, with American companies sitting on nearly $3 trillion in cash and...
Innovation and Change Become the Hallmarks of...
published on: Sep 15, 2010
As globalization continues to advance, it will open up huge market potential in the developing world to compensate for slow or negative growth in...
A Mountain of Corporate Cash
published on: Aug 15, 2010
While individuals, small businesses, and even government entities have seen their cash assets disappear in the face of the Great Recession, major...
A Mountain of Corporate Cash
published on: Aug 15, 2010
While individuals, small businesses, and even government entities have seen their cash assets disappear in the face of the Great Recession, major...
Mastering Complexity
published on: Aug 15, 2010
For the past three decades, the message from boardrooms around the world has typically been: “Simply simplify!” At the risk of sounding...