My hypothesis: The central driver for transition to a new order will be the shift from ‘acquisition’ to ‘assimilation / usage/ value leverage’.
This means that people will and must learn to use resources better, especially in the context of an extended global recession. This includes all kinds of resources: goods, knowledge, natural resources, and human resources.
The shift to assimilation/ usage/ value leverage will be accompanied by other (related) shifts.
- ‘Mindless acquisition’ to ‘Mindful acquisition of goods’
- ‘Buying more goods’ to ‘Using existing goods better’
- ‘Quantity of life parameters’ to ‘Quality of life parameters’
In systemic terms, this would mean –
- Consumption growth that is less exponential in rich countries
- Continued consumption growth in poorer countries where the focus is access to basic material goods
- Enhanced investments in efficiencies, effectiveness, and practices that leverage existing infrastructure, rather than on creating more infrastructure. This includes technology-usability and buyer side absorption of technologies
- Superior use of all resources
The net impact will be an economy that focuses on providing value, developing practices, effective usage and superior customer engagement.