2016 EMERGING ISSUES
Technology
types
Concerns
Cybersecurity
Digital protectionism
Rise of digital giants #
Loss of jobs #
maybe not
Commoditisation of machine-generated expertise opens doors for SMEs
"PhD APIs" for complex tasks; APIs as middle mgmt, Uber uses API to dispatch workers
Automation in expertise-based sectors,
eg. Lex Machina, a legal analytics software
Supports growth in freelancers - freed from mundane tasks, can use skills more productivity elsewhere #
Asset-light but very productive; 12X more profitable than others, but hires little (0.5% of US workforce)
More tech coys moving into adjacent industries, growing clout, eg. Tencent launched China's first online bank, WeBank, to leverage data from WeChat
Geographically barriers are breaking done, eg. Upwork is a platform that connects freelancers with jobs - 50% customers based in US but only 20% freelancers are there #
2014/5 cyber attacks on large organisation in insurance, telco etc
IoT security not a priority for companies
Wearables being too intrusive for workers, as orgs use them to monitor workers productivity and behaviours
EU single digital market - deepens antitrust investigation into American tech firms (eg. Google, Uber) in Europe
Thai's great firewall - to block info flow from overseas
Digital india - PM Modia sets a net-zero import target for electronics mfg under "Digital India" by 2020
Digital Five - world's first formal cyber alliance formed among 5 small economies in 2015
Wearables #
Cyber attacks go physical, eg. Ukraine energy grid hack
IoT #
Work, Workforce, Wages
Shifting market power
EU
China
Asia
US
Emerging market growing rapidly, competing for attractiveness as location for global HQs
Infrastructure financing struggles
Brexit
"Made in China" 2025 - aggressive localisation of mfg activities
Private owned enterprises leading next Chi capital wave. Since 2010, M&As by POEs increased from 10% to 41% of the overall Chinese overseas M&A deal value
Energy independence? Sheikh vs Shale
Reshoring of mfg operations to US
Innovating innovation
Increasing outward FDI in developing markets, at 16% CAGR from 2011-2014
"One Belt, One Road" in >60 countries to bolster China's trade through financing construction of critical infra and forming new trade networks
Leverage platforms to design and create prototypes, eg. Nascent objects allow developers to use plug-and-play system to assemble modules into products #
Accelerating the Chinese Way - break down complex R&D processes into simpler, modular ones and do concurrent engineering
Tap on smart algorithms to source for solutions to plug R&D process gaps, saving on manpower and time #
Extreme engineering - modular construction methods (build offsite, assemble onsite), eg. Chinese Sanyuan overpass was demolished and rebuilt within 43hrs
Job polarisation across countries
Fluid labour contracts
blurring of lines across tasks, jobs, coys, sectors
Need for fluid and unbundled education system
Unbundling of work - freelancer issues
requires new forms of social interactions
protection and insurance considerations
"Winner-takes-all" - talent is concentrated in top 1% of coys #
Income security/insecurty
No more annual pay raise? GE and Gap are scraping it because they think it is ineffective to drive performance
Universal basic income? if tech succeeds in removing jobs, UBL can allow citizens to meet basic needs
Opportunity to enable a circular economy?
Crowdfunding for infra?
executives freed up to focus on tasks that utlilise creativity and emotion
"Smart contracts" that execute themselves automatically under the right circumstances
Protects records, eg. Everledger for luxury goods