Kjell Nordström

Funky Business tells us that the new world is different. Forget the old world order. Forget what you knew yesterday. The revolutionary reality is that 1.3 kilograms of brain holds the key to all our futures. Competitive advantage comes from being different. Increasingly, difference comes form the way people think rather than what organizations make. Today, the only thing that makes capital dance is talent. In such times we cannot have business as usual–we need funky business.

Technology, institutions and values are being subverted and overturned. They are the triad, the inter–linked drivers of change, transforming each other and creating a global village of turbulance, tribes and fusion. We are deregulating life for ourselves and our children. Whether you like it or not, we are all condemned to freedom– the freedom to choose.

Capitalism has won. There is only one small problem. Is this what we want? Perhaps we should ask ourselves what price we are prepared to pay for prosperity. The opportunities for a richer life and for societies in which people have a genuine chance of realising their dreams have never been greater. It is an entrepreneurs heaven.

The democratic market economy is now the preferred choice. However, global market capitalism is not a political ideology. It is neither good nor bad, neither right nor wrong – it just is. It is a set of principles or rules of the game. For most companies this new reality means that they are both under siege by increasingly powerful customers and held hostage by competent individuals who are free to know, go, do and be. To thrive, organisations need to take on the simultaneous task of taming talent and creating new customers.

Against this backdrop, Dr Nordström will:

•  Outline an overview of the present socio-economic landscape.
•  Highlight the key drivers behind this development.
•  Analyse and discuss the overall implications for business firms.
•  Doing business in a bazaar – economy.
•  Provide an overview of how the formation of competitive advantages has changed over time. The art of earning money is truly a moving target.