AMA Looks Ahead on Its 80th Anniversary

Author and business consultant Frederick G. Harmon discussed the “Five Forces That Will Reshape Business—and How to Make Them Work for You” at an AMA Current Issues Briefing held at AMA’s New York Executive Conference Center on March 14. The forward-looking topic was chosen to mark AMA’s 80th Anniversary. The not-for-profit organization was founded on March 14, 1923.

Harmon, a former senior executive at AMA, told the audience, “AMA has much to be proud of—making organizations and the world more productive and efficient.”

Harmon, who is principal of Synthesis Consulting, told his audience of AMA members and customers that in order to gain perspective on what the future holds for business and society in general, we must look back to the key events and trends of the past. “We can’t predict the future, not even for five minutes. Yet we have to create plans and identify long-term trends. We can achieve this by looking backwards. In fact, the further backward you look, the further forward you’ll see.”

In his book, Business 2010—Five Forces that Will Reshape Business and How to Make Them Work for You,” Harmon explains how technology, freedom, education, demographics and globalization have emerged as the major themes influencing the future. At the AMA briefing, he focused specifically on the implications of demographics and technology for business. According to Harmon, recent demographic trends show that we will see continued fragmentation of our markets, more diversity in the workplace and a shortage of workers in the 35-45 age group. These trends, along with the aging of the baby boomers, said Harmon, will create a greater need for skills training.

Harmon told the group, “The Internet is only in its infancy, and its influence over every aspect of our lives has only just begun.” Because increasingly sophisticated modes of communication—from the telegraph to the Internet and cellular phones—speed up all aspects of our world, keeping pace with the rapid expansion of information technology is a major challenge for today’s businesses. To survive, organizations will have to keep a close watch on three ongoing technological developments: consumer usage of computers and the Internet, business use of the Internet and the standardization of IT platforms. To stay competitive, organizations must make sure their strategic technology planning is based on the latest data available.

To reap the benefits of the forces of change we are experiencing, Harmon suggested two areas for strategic attention. First, organizations must look at the development of systems that will make their organizations more efficient, utilizing the new technology that's evolving daily. Second, and as important—if not more so—attention must focus on development of people. Harmon told the group: “Today, wealth is no longer based on land or even capital, but rather on human resources.”