A scarcity of natural resources. The challenge to protect biodiversity and the global climate. Rapid economic growth and urbanisation in Asia and the developing world. Changing demographics and an ageing population. The impact of new digital technologies. Consumer expectations for services, experiences and social interaction. An imperative to innovate. Megatrends are gradual yet powerful trajectories of change that have the potential to throw companies, individuals and societies into freefall. In Global Megatrends author Stefan Hajkowicz identifies these seven patterns of global change and tells a story about how the world will change over the next 20 years. The book captures the thinking of many dedicated scientists and researchers who have devoted their careers to exploring and understanding change. The change heralded by megatrends lies beyond our direct control but not beyond our influence. By getting a picture of how the world is changing and what these megatrends are, we can alter our destiny.

We inhabit an increasingly interconnected world, yet too often policymakers and advisors view each issue in a vacuum, focusing primarily on short-term impacts. All of us - policymakers, citizens, and local and global communities - must begin to consider how the major trends that shape our world are likely to develop, and how they will intersect and influence one another. This volume is designed to explore and discuss correlations between these global trends, or megatrends: Global Governance, Demographic Change and Migration, Energy and Natural Resources, Global Security, Biodiversity, and Economic Globalization. The book's primary focus is to provide a qualitative overview of the trends, and to analyze their intersections and interdependencies in the 21st century. The authors hope it will help define some of the complex challenges and exciting opportunities to shaping a world of sustainable economies and societies.

This book highlights what are likely to be the future megatrends in the water sector and why and how they should be incorporated to improve water governance in the coming decades. In this first ever book on megatrends for the water sector, 22 leading world experts from different disciplines representing academia, business, government, national and international organisations discuss what the major megatrends of the future are and how they will radically change water governance in the coming decades.

The world economy has, over the past half century, become increasingly intertwined, and countries mutually dependent. The convergence of emerging market economies (EMEs) with the advanced, richer ones has led to dramatic transformation—where the former have sustained growth rates far higher than the latter. But more recently, given the global economic turbulence since 2007, questions have arisen as to whether the era of rapid convergence is over, and whether more EMEs are destined to get mired in the middle-income trap. This book takes a long-term perspective of the economic and social outlook of the world to 2050, focusing on cross-cutting intergenerational issues that often get overshadowed by the short-term crises and political preoccupations of the day. It argues that for a prosperous economic order, convergence of large developing economies—led by East Asia and India—with the developed world is crucial given the former’s share in the global GDP. Addressing the various aspects of emerging markets such as international trade, urbanization, food security, climate change, and governance, the book brings out the role of the global economic community toward increasing living standards throughout the world while pressuring our fragile planet. A joint effort of a multidisciplinary, multicultural team of 26 authors who were born in twelve different countries on five continents, this book is an analytically rigorous exploration of the future of the global economy and its societies.

Drawing on insights from academics and practitioners around the world, this book takes some of the mystery and anxiety out of common perceptions about economic, cultural, and social transformation in the age of globalization, and offers clear and effective approaches for survival in a continually changing business environment.

Research and development (R&D) as well as innovation are the drivers of change and the key determinants of growth in many industry and service sectors. In spite of the financial turmoil and restructuring of the world economy after 2008, investment in R&D is expected to grow further. Innovation competence will continue to be a major success factor for internationally operating companies. The book presents a state-of-the-art account of innovation management and the role of R&D and innovation strategy for corporate growth and renewal. It follows a top-down approach starting from corporate strategy, and describes the effective integration of corporate R&D, business unit projects and operational performance improvements. The book offers portraits of leading innovators and high-performing corporations and provides a rich collection of best-practice examples.

This volume presents selected papers from the 18th Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES) Conference, with major emphasis placed on highlighting the latest research developments in the economics of innovation, public economics, and management. The articles in the volume also address more specialized topics such as luxury fashion, weather derivatives, health management, islamic bonds, and life satisfaction, among others. The majority of the articles focus on phenomena observed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and South Asia, representing a unique contribution to understanding contemporary research challenges from a different perspective.

The Responsible Investor is a practical introductory guide for private as well as institutional investors and financiers interested in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. The authors have academia, advisory, asset management, asset owner and central bank backgrounds, bringing diverse perspectives and extensive senior-level experience in implementing Responsible Investment across different types of portfolios. Together, they have distilled what can seem a complex area into a clear guide to the topic, accessible to readers who don’t necessarily have prior in-depth knowledge in the field of Responsible Investment but are interested to know more. The book presents the development of Responsible Investment, its different approaches and the drivers of Responsible Investment, as well as the implementation opportunities in different asset classes. The book introduces Responsible Investment trends that investors can take into consideration in their investment decisions. In addition, the book covers ESG data and assessment, impact and reporting for Responsible Investments. This book suits both rookies and veterans – be they private investors, managers of investment funds or institutional investors or financiers. It is also valuable reading for students in finance, Responsible Investment and corporate social responsibility as an accessible overview of the topic.

This book addresses how economic spaces dynamically change within the context of the global knowledge-based economy. Specifically, it centers the discussion on integrated views of understanding and conceptualizing dynamic changes of global economy under the global megatrends of globalization, knowledge-based economy, information society, service world, climate change, and population aging. Focusing on East Asia, especially on Korea, it deals with case studies regarding the processes and patterns of these global dynamics, looking at economic spaces of various spatial scales and types of economic actors. This book develops a theoretical model for understanding and analysing the dynamics of economic spaces that are being reshaped within the larger global economy. It also emphasizes the analysis of empirical studies at the level of firm, region, and state by considering an evolutionary perspective over time. In developing its theoretical framework, this book examines regional resilience, intangible assets, service innovation, path dependence, and other notions related to the evolution of economic spaces, and incorporates these elements into real-world case studies. The integrated theoretical framework examined here contributes a new perspective on spatial disparities in the global economy. An integral model of service innovation; the integration of path dependence and regional resilience; the interaction between firm and region for the accumulation of intangible assets; and the roles of governments and global firms: these are all essential to understanding the dynamics of economic spaces in East Asia. The theoretical model and case studies in this book suggest policy implications for developing countries, especially in the Asian and African regions, with regard to regional development and innovation policies.

The question of consumption emerged as a major focus of research and scholarship in the 1990s but the breadth and diversity of consumer culture has not been fully enough explored. The meanings of consumption, particularly in relation to lifestyle and identity, are of great importance to academic areas including business studies, sociology, cultural and media studies, psychology, geography and politics. The SAGE Handbook of Consumer Culture is a one-stop resource for scholars and students of consumption, where the key dimensions of consumer culture are critically discussed and articulated. The editors have organised contributions from a global and interdisciplinary team of scholars into six key sections: Part 1: Sociology of Consumption Part 2: Geographies of Consumer Culture Part 3: Consumer Culture Studies in Marketing Part 4: Consumer Culture in Media and Cultural Studies Part 5: Material Cultures of Consumption Part 6: The Politics of Consumer Culture