Current Global Trends

Five global trends have shifted the power and influence of key stakeholder groups.

The growth in our global economy means that all markets are important to us. Companies cannot afford to give up on any market, no matter how poor it is today, because tomorrow circumstances might change as they have in Southeast Asia.

The increasing growth in information and knowledge means that we know very quickly when companies provide value and when they do not, and when their actions are damaging to a local community or to the greater community. Companies find out immediately the consequences of their actions, whether its the dangers inherent in the products or services they provide (e.g., trans fats) or the methods by which they produce or provide these services (e.g., servers’ exposure to second hand smoke).

BLOGS, web casts, downloads and email have dramatically shifted the control of information from a small number of centralized providers to an unlimited network of sources and channels. There are no lasting secrets anymore. Most companies have finally learned that transparency and the truth is a safer strategy.

The abundance of capital has meant that companies have choices on their sources of capital and the terms under which that capital is acquired. One of the consequences is a growing trend of public companies going private to avoid the short-term strategies required to assure a consistent return on shareholder investment. By allowing organizations to plan over longer time horizons, the concerns of other stakeholders can be addressed.

The growing shortage of knowledge workers has forced organizations to consider new ways of enticing new hires and retaining their services. As the cost of employee acquisition and retention increases, it becomes even more important to find ways of making these workers more productive.

These trends have shifted the power of stakeholder groups from a capital centric model (the purpose of a business is to increase shareholder value) to a more egalitarian model (the purpose of a business it to increase the value of all stakeholders).