Effective decisions are all about the free flow of information and ideas from top to bottom. While transforming the business model of the organisation, care should be taken to safeguard the stakeholders’ interest. Growth of the organisation also depends on making the front line staff aware of the market trends of your industry. Gone are the days when CEOs sit at the top of the pyramid making all the decisions, now the whole organisation has to be restructured in such a way that your people are empowered to take decisions, not by forcing them but by making them well-informed about the organisation and market trends.

Rereading the transcript of this video, I am struck by what Peter Bisson notes as key to changing an organization: getting line management to accept and live and die by knowing that these five trends are similar to forces of Nature. Ignoring them is not an option. And he’s dead on in suggesting that these forces need not tell a frightening story so much as an invitation or, perhaps better still, an imperative to innovate. This, in turn, means that CEOs can no more preach the gospel of no surprises to their line managers than a board can any longer lecture no surprises to CEOs. Everyone needs to get in the same kayak in the same white water rapids that truly are the global economy.

I agree with Barton’s view on harnessing organizational cultural and values to empower a team of leaders to drive transformational changes and make long-lasting impacts that stick for decades.

In the business world as the rate of change continues to accelerate this presents both the potential for risk and reward. I agree that going forward corporate strategy must consider more that just traditional performance measures. If the current economic crisis has highlighted anything it is surely the imperative to redress the current imbalance which exists between the primary focus of bringing the dollar in through the front door and the secondary focus of preventing the dollar from leaving through the backdoor. This will require a holistic view of creating sustainable stakeholder value. From a stakeholder perspective, any transformation of the business model must also include measures to help ensure that the interests of the multiple stakeholders are adequately safeguarded or defended. This will require corporate strategy to incorporate the specific requirement for formal corporate defense strategies aimed at defending stakeholder interests, and such strategies will need to focus on the strategic management, alignment, and integration of the crtical components which constitute an organization’s self-defense program (i.e. Governance, Risk, Compliance, Intelligence, Security, Resilience, Controls, and Assurance). Such an integrated program will need to become embedded into the strategic planning process rather than being addressed individually as add-ons later in the roll-out process.

Optimizing stakeholder value and safeguarding stakeholder interests are two sides of the same coin, remember the fastest cars require the best safety features.

I agree the role of governments will continue to shape how companies compete. Energy management and sustainbility are forces that must be considered in setting global strategy. Those companies that embrace sustainability earlier will have a competitive advantage.

The imperative to manage technological innovation is the additional global force I would like to add to this list.

In many industries innovation is now the most important driver of competitive success. The increasing importance of innovation is due in part to the globalization of markets.

I believe Mr. Barton comes very close to defining a new paradigm in management “hiving.” This is where companies are very dispersed and work connected and focused by trust and influence rather than a hierarchical structure. See the following for some interesting stats. Also, Ray Kurzweil, a futurist is predicting a “singularity” which really brings a new definition to how companies will be managed.

I was delighted to read and later watch your discource on Global Forces Shaping the Future of Business. We missed such an important topic and discussion in business litrature in recent years.

I wish to introduce, if I may, a sixth factor to your five factors shaping the future of world business and the society. That is the issue of energy and primaily oil and gas. The role of OPEC and IGF is not going to vanish but increase during the second decade of the 21ST century.

I am not making this comment because I worked for and on OPEC for the last 30 years but due to the fact that OPEC and international oil companies will get closer and form an institution that could impact the future shape of business and society in coming years.