Bain has come up with its Macro Trends Group report to describe the key changes that will take place in the workforce by the year 2030. This will be precipitated by changes in demographic patterns, rising inequality and the growth of automation. These forces are already changing the scenario for investorsand businesses. A fifth of the present jobs could be lost to automation and robotics by 2020, especially hitting low and middle-income jobs. Add to this, the loweconomic growth in the developed countries. As per the business intelligence submitted in this report, Bain says that US$ 8 trillion additional investment will be required to achieve productivity gains by 2030. There have been previous industry shifts such as from agriculture to manufacturing between 1900 and 1940. But the sheer numbers now will dwarf the previous figures. Market momentum is no longer to be taken as a precedent due to rising volatility. Interest rates may be expected to constantly rise. Automation could actually lead to a period of boom for about ten to fifteen years, followed by a bust. The role of governments is expected to rise. International conflicts will now involve businesses too. Talent recruitment of skilled workforce will taper off as avenues will reduce for the people. Baby boomer generations spending will peak by 2020, and then fall off.

Source:http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/labor-2030-the-collision-of-demographics-automation-and-inequality.aspx

Uploaded Date:18 August 2018

Some form of debate is now emerging on what is still the true role of firms, if at all. This is because a lot of people feel that in our present age of AI, there isn’t the requirement of formal channels of organizations to control work. Instead of formal contracts, we could do with a team of professionals collaborating through devices such as the Amazon Alexa. In spite of this compelling logic, there is still a genuine requirement of firms due to a few key reasons. The first of them is that firms manage tensions across competing priorities which would otherwise never be solved without a hierarchical structure. It serves the thin line between exploration and exploitation. Firms also help professionals in setting a long-term corporate strategy which looks towards future expectations within a system. This view also helps individuals in bringing them a spiritual or moral call to action. Any unreasonable behaviour gets weeded out by such firms.

Source:https://hbr.org/2018/08/whats-the-purpose-of-companies-in-the-age-of-ai?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert_activesubs&utm_content=signinnudge&referral=00563&deliveryName=DM11934

Uploaded Date:16 August 2018

A new book released The Blue Zones of Happiness: Lessons form the World’s Happiest People written by Dan Buettner offers an insight into what goes behind creating a populace which is the happiest. The writer is a journalist with National Geographic and has provided us with crucial business intelligence on why certain countries regularly top the happiness indexes. One common thing to a lot of these countries is that a generation or two back they had visionary leaders who knew that a single-minded focus on economy would lead to nowhere. Economic growth is more important for the poorer, developing countries. But for the developed west, other social factors such as mothers’ education, children’s health and play opportunities were equally important. Loneliness and unhappiness are contagious so an environment needs to be fostered where children are able to forge lifelong friendships. There is no one-single approach to achieving this as proven through the contradictory steps taken up by three countries who are routinely on top. Costa Rica achieves this through its sheer year-long perfect weather and greenery. Generous social programmes on health and education ensure Denmark is often right on top. Singapore has a different, much more structured approach aided by strong family ties and financial security.

Source:http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/blue-zones-happiness/

Uploaded Date:16 August 2018

The Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) landscape is going through some fundamental changes in its structure brought about by Private Equity (PE). One such is the renewed focus on long-term investments. Another trend is these PEs loosening control. Business consulting firm EY spoke about the increasing instances of non-controlling stake where PEs are content at simply influencing the target company’s operations. Credit is now better understood, so many investors are moving away from ownership models. There is now great PE-corporate collaboration than ever before. Instead of going alone, a number of PEs are exploring the possibility of co-investing with limited partners. Many PE firms aren’t just satisfied at investing for others’ businesses. They want to build their own organization.

Source:https://betterworkingworld.ey.com/growth/six-ways-private-equity-will-help-drive-value-in-m-a?wt.mc_id=14626300

Uploaded Date:16 August 2018

For obvious reasons, every government enterprise depends highly on its IT infrastructure. A sound IT organization allows for building the proper pathways towards information sharing, cybersecurity, talent management and development. Broadly, there exist five models towards IT organization. The adoption depends on CIOs’ preferences. The most centralized system is the fully-unified one which is ideal for organization where the security needs are maximum and external threats may arise for crucial intelligence. The next one is a similarly unified system but with a business-unit supervision. This works best when transition is required for applying change management techniques. The third is a unified organization where specialized IT activities are excluded. This may be considered when specialized functions have due importance and centralization roadblocks need to be avoided. The third modelis creating shared Centers of Excellence (COEs). When individual business units need autonomy on operations, this one is ideal. To end it, is the Lighthouse COE model. This works best when complete freedom is required in functions such as user interface design, DevOps or agile.

Source:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dna-government-five-organizational-models-greg-boison/?linkId=55219214

Uploaded Date:16 August 2018

There arise several situations when people need to collaborate yet they do not see eye-to-eye. Eve if less dramatic, it can cause friction. However, to merely collaborate at work towards a common goal, one does not need to like the other person. It is about successfully stretching the concept of collaboration. Any collaboration typically involves working towards the common purpose, identifying problems, arriving at solutions and setting a plan to execute the same. Members also need to carefully allot tasks to the different players. To do this, one needs to simply accept the plurality of the situation with no one particular answer in place. One needs to experiment as only then will one arrive at business innovations to turn around the corner. The problem solver must not see oneself as outside the problem but as part of it.

Source:https://www.strategy-business.com/article/How-to-Collaborate-When-You-Dont-Have-Consensus?gko=90356

Uploaded Date:16 August 2018

There is much craze in the world now for having smart cities. These are cities where good governance practices are used with the right kind of technology to provide ideal living solutions to the people. Typically, such cities are associated with an inherent wealth, prestige and the presence of high-tech industries. To transform urban environments, for a start, cities must combine the physical asset development with smart planning. The planning cycles will be shorter if investments are flexible and riven by data. Seoul is one city that has made good use of its solutions after thorough analysis of data crunched. An open approach needs to be inculcated to attract the participation of private sector companies. Amsterdam makes perfect use of a private-public partnership to execute its plans. People must be at the centre of all strategizing. Civic bodies must perform the right kind of talent recruitment to have the people and skills in place, a smart city needs. Kigali and Copenhagen bodies have recruited smartly, and then experimented on pilot basis. Cyber security is another area of much deliberation in a digital world with such enormous data warehousing taking place. So, security risks need be addressed right from the outset.

Source:https://medium.com/@mckinsey_mgi/smart-cities-need-smart-governments-5-places-to-start-106080fc23f0

Uploaded Date:10 August 2018