MegaTrends: Areas to Watch

On January 15, I attended the ACG San Francisco Luncheon and heard Michael Moe, founder and former Chairman and CEO of ThinkEquity and one of the best analysts and future thinkers I know. He has talked at the January ACG SF Luncheon for the past 15 years and is always well received. More about what he is thinking can be found on his web site at www.nextupresearch.com.

One of his opening comments was very insightful, “The past is no longer a prologue to the future”, and meaning that things are changing so rapidly and so drastically that we cannot rely on what we did in the past to be successful in the future. With that in mind, he talked about industries to watch and what he calls “MegaTrends”.

The industries he likes are: consumer products, healthcare services, technology, media and anything green. I would add infrastructure to his list – bridges, dams, highways, waste water and drinking water transport as well as internet and broadband expansion and everything in between.

The MegaTrends he is watching are: globalization, the internet (currently only 20% worldwide penetration!), outsourcing, demographics (the aging population as people are living longer), branded products, the convergence of technology into smaller devices (the iPhone is just the beginning!), consolidation, knowledge economy – education, and again, anything green (alternative energy, green-living, etc.) or “blue” (anything to do with water).

The weakening worldwide economy may override or at least slow investment in these areas but as the economy does improve, these sure are areas of opportunity.

To better understand these MegaTrends that Michael is talking about, let me suggest several books:
Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat and <em>Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution.
Fareed Zakaria’s The Post-American World.

Let me know your thoughts at bbarnard@BarnardMontague.com or comment on our blog.