What Does the Future Hold for Business?

The Find: Some crystal ball gazing from UK think tank The Chartered Management Institute reveals what the UK business landscape will look like in ten years' time -- and the predicted changes are massive.
The Source: A recent survey by The Chartered Management Institute.

The Takeaway: It's hard enough in the current, volatile business climate to predict what next week will look like. (No investment banks left? Hmmm. Seems like a long shot.) But one think tank is going out on a limb to prognosticate the future of UK business a decade out. The Chartered Management Institute's survey revealed:

63 percent believe "teams will be more multi-generational" in ten years' time
42 percent say "increased numbers of senior women will have changed management styles"
63 percent suggest customer participation in business decisions will increase
62 per cent predict that environmental concerns and regulation will create products with longer lifecycles

What does the Institute feel will be behind these radical changes in the way Britain does business? Jo Causon, director of marketing and corporate affairs, explains: "Education, the needs and wants of Generation Y and the growing influence of emerging nations are all contributing to a changing workplace."

Of course these are only general predictions, but the Institute goes into greater detail in an accompanying podcast and has also organized a session to discuss the long term future of management at its annual conference.

The Question: Read the tea leaves: what's the biggest change we're likely to see in the business landscape (on either side of the Atlantic) in ten years' time?

(Image of fortune teller sign by ChazWag, CC 2.0)

Jessica Stillman

Jessica lives in London where she works as a freelance writer with interests in green business and tech, management, and marketing.

Twitter

More from CBS News