about MEGAtrends...

What I liked? Our guest lecturer Henrik Blomgren once mentioned in his lecture that to know the future we need to look behind the past. Yeah, I am with him. That is probably the Feasibility Study for the Future Plan. For instance, looking behind the new paper headlines of 5 years back and then reading articles in front 5+ about common future thinking. Here comes one good example which will give you a clearer view about the megatrends. Following two megatrends are spotted by the renowned author and trend spotter John Naisbitt whose book is considered to be one of the biggest successes in the publishing world sold more than 9 million copies in 57 countries. Compare what megatrends he documented for 1983 and 2000.

Because we are now in 2008 Blomgren had a chance to criticize such a famous future thinker like John Naisbitt. He analyzed the matches and mismatches of Naisbitt’s thought with today’s megatrends. Interestingly, couple of mismatches were found. One or two from the audience also took the opportunity to criticize Naisbitt but could not actually succeed. I don't know why the class today was not quite interactive like the previous lectures.

Here is one useful article for you from Harvard Business School.

Low-Cost Methods For Spotting Customer Trends -
You don't need—and, these days, likely don't have—a big budget to figure out what your customers need...Here's a guide to low-cost trendspotting—ten ideas for where to look for the next big thing. more at http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/2737.html