The end of boundless opportunity?
5/17/2004
Has commerce already seen its best days? The author, CEO of a management consulting firm, says the answer is yes, and businesses and governments better start redefining their notions of success in this new world with limits. What happened? One effect of globalization is that there are no longer endless possibilities for market expansion opportunities, especially considering conditions such as shrinking growth in world population. And, Osenton continues, companies have done such a good job at saturating markets that there is nowhere left to grow. CEOs will have to be honest with themselves, employees, and stakeholders by tempering expectations and finding new meanings of success and value. Shrinking demand has larger implications than just firm profitability: governments will need to consider how their economies are affected and adjust policy accordingly. —Cynthia D. Churchwell