Trends

• Trend


  New way, has big impact on society, long period of time, a sequential pattern of change in a condition, output, or process or an average or general tendency of a series of data points to move in a certain direction over time, represented by a line
• Fad


  New thing, made of pure hype, short period of time, can also be considered as the latest but it is made for short-term functions and cannot outlive for many years
• How to spot a trend

  • 3 fundamental elements: Basic needs, drivers of change, innovations
• Innovations aren't trends. But without examples of customer-facing innovations, a trend can't be said to exist fully yet
• Target your innovations at the sweet spot of customer expectations
• Characteristics of trends

  • Endurance over time, acceptability, cultural roots, transitory increase and decrease, versatility
• Microtrend


  Little things that happen all around us all the time, happen right now and are outright observable
• Macrotrend


  "Aggregated micro trends" or more sweeping changes that are affecting society, they provide major changes that are perceptible in the societal level for a longer period
• Macrotrend

  • Varying smartphone brands (iPhones vs. android phones) battle for popularity
• Megatrend


  Macrotrends that have grown up and moved out, can last for decades and become the prevailing condition that has become too normal
• Gigatrend


  Trends that are so general that they affect most areas of human life, they are usually identified to define an era
• Aristotle claimed that the whole is not equal to the sum of the parts, and conversely, the sum of the parts is not equal to the whole
• Democritus believed that the parts are of great significance in understanding the essence of the whole
• A trend was born because of an idea of an individual or groups of individuals, and these become prevalent, growing and evolving over time, it is crucial for us to trace the movement of these growth, expansions, and evolutions of trends
• As they grow and evolve, they tend to influence or give birth to other trends and become interconnected and interrelated
• Four activities for trendspotter in detecting emerging patterns

  • Documentation
  • Archive or Memory
  • Analysis
  • Presentation
• Aristotle viewed the human person as "rational animal", humans are the only beings capable of reasoning or thinking
• Rene Descartes said "Cogito ergo sum" or "I think therefore I exist", whether we liked it or not, whether we choose it or not, whether we doubt it or not, we think
• Strategic analysis


  A system or method that requires deliberate, abstract, and effortful thinking that breaks down a complex problem into parts, involves looking at the context of the problem
• Strategic analysis model used in decision making


  • Identify the problem
  • Analyze the problem
  • Generate a solution
  • Implement the solution
  • Reflect on the outcomes
• Intuitive thinking


  The ability to understand something instinctively without the need for conscious reasoning, quick and ready insight, involves additional sensors to perceive and get aware of the information from outside
• Using intuitive thinking in social networks

  • Political networks
  • Economic networks
  • Sociocultural or social networks
• Globalization


  The emergence of an international network, belonging to an economic and social system, a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology
• Roland Robertson, a professor of sociology at the University of Aberden, was the first person who defined globalization as "The understanding of the world and the increased perception of the world as a whole"
• Aspects associated to globalization

  • Labor
  • Migration
• Pull factors


  Job opportunities, better living conditions, enjoyment, family links, better chances of marrying
• Major factors of globalization

  • Economic globalization
  • Cultural globalization
  • Political globalization
• Economic globalization


  Happening through the instantaneous transfer and transporting of goods, services, capital, and technology across national borders, can be both positive and negative
• Cultural globalization


  Refers to the transfer and sharing of insights, experiences and values across the globe that create greater social interaction, allows the formation of shared norms and morales that brings about a collective identity
• Political globalization


  Multi-level governance provided explanation to the entanglement between the domestic and international concerns of countries and states, multiple nation-states through multiple citizenship, dual citizenship, or nationality