Istrazivanja i projektovanja za privreduJournal of Applied Engineering Science

In the age of uncertainty, trying to forecast next 15 years could seem as an impossible task. On the other hand, understanding future trends is vital, so strategy could be defined and opportunities and potential threats identified. That was the reason why the british magazine The Economist made the Foresight 2020 survey. Results of the survey were used for forecasting of changes that will affect world economy, industry and companies in next 15 years. There are several principal trends that will influence the business until 2020: globalisation, demographics, atomisation, personalisation and knowledge management. Emerging of new markets will lead to a redistribution of economic power - China and India will take a greater slice of the world economy. Globalisation will have major influence on the world economic growth. Additionally, economy will be influenced by demografic shifts: countries with favourable demografic profile can expect steady growth, and vice versa. Population shifts - more precisely, ageing of population - will lead to new products and services. In the same time, manufacturers will try to create products and services in response to specific customer needs - the emphasis will be on personalization. There will also be changes in the companies -employees will need more creativity and interpersonal skills and less technical know-ledge. Improving the productivity of know-ledge workers will be the greatest challenge in the next 15 years.