test2

Organizations taking a social perspective on products, partnerships, customers and working practices must

ask how broader social trends will affect their future. Most will be affected by one of the trends outlined

above. For example:

• Customers and employees who are permanently connected to information sources will be better

informed and can be contacted more easily. This is both a risk and an opportunity.

• High-income individuals tend to have money but not time and won’t wait for anything.

• Globalization requires organizations to become aware of national and cultural differences towards issues

such as regulation, privacy and ownership of intellectual property.

• Demographics are changing, e.g., single living is the norm in some groups and places, aging populations

have consumer power and demand appropriate product features, and workplace age discrimination is

illegal in some countries.

• As technology becomes ever more pervasive, the number of people who are unwilling or unable to use it

may increase, e.g., some services are already effectively inaccessible to some demographics because of

the difficulty of finding a human being to talk to