Megatrends 2000: Ten New Directions for the 1990's

Another orderly package of forecasts on the socioeconomic, political, technological, and allied changes that could shape the 1990's. As in 1982's best-selling Megatrends, Naisbitt and Aburdene (his collaborator on Re-Inventing the Corporation, 1985) focus on prospectively major shifts whose influence promises to be relatively long lasting. Their listing of and commentary on possibilities ranges from the obvious (the rise of the Pacific Rim, privatization of the welfare state) through the mildly surprising (a worldwide multidenominational religious revival) and oxymoronic (the emergence of free-market socialism). During the premillenial years of the upcoming decade, the authors also look for: a prospering, even booming, international economy; a business environment that rewards individual initiative; a greater incidence of women holding leadership positions in corporate hierarchies; and intensifying debate over what they characterize as "unnatural selection," i.e., the awesome opportunities afforded by advances in the biosciences, which have supplanted physics as engines of growth. In the meantime, Naisbitt and Aburdene anticipate a renaissance that could make the arts more popular than sports as a leisure activity, plus concurrent transitions to global life-styles and cultural nationalism. While the authors' upbeat analysis of dominant, earth-shaking swings may be longer on breadth than depth, they provide a credible, accessible road map for those seeking to identify the near future's highroads and lowlands. (Kirkus Reviews)

In this sequel to their 1982 bestseller, Megatrends , Naisbitt and Aburdene use solid and startling statistics to identify 10 dominant socio-economic trends for the 1990s. Among these, they foresee a booming global economy, with the "Pacific Rim" of Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore rivaling a single-market "Europe 1992." Socialized industry and government welfare services will be largely replaced, they argue, by private enterprise. Meanwhile, women worldwide will achieve parity with men as leaders in the professions. The authors also predict a strong resurgence in the arts, national/ethnic culture, and religion, as the millennium nears. They envision as well epic developments and dangers in biochemical science--test-tube chickens, clones of endangered species, killer-disease vaccines. The authors' figures frequently upset conventional wisdom--more U.S. goods ($37.7 billion) were sold to Japan in 1988, they maintain, than to Germany, France and Italy combined. Major ad/promo; BOMC alternate; author tour .
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.