Scan Monthly No. 040June 2006 |
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Signals of Change
The New Farming
SoC177
The rising international popularity of ethanol and other biofuels highlights the growing trend in which the world expects its farmers to produce energy as well as food. A substantial increase in energy crops will have dramatic impacts on international trade, food prices, tax policies, and business models for a variety of industries.
The Carbon-Conscious Consumer
SoC178
How much carbon dioxide do your everyday actions generate? What if the concept of a personal carbon footprint became so widely understood that people took pride in how small their footprint was?
Retail Health Care
SoC179
The current significant inefficiencies in the U.S. health-care system make the development of more affordable, accessible, high-quality solutions for the delivery of services a potentially very profitable opportunity. Large U.S. retailers are seizing the opportunity by leveraging their existing infrastructure to create walk-in medical clinics providing basic health-related services.
Capturing Cocreation
SoC180
Companies are encouraging and engaging consumers as cocreators within structures that deter the consumers from becoming competitors. The efforts allow companies to capture and retain the value that cocreators generate.
The Features Dilemma
SoC181
Consumer-electronics producers sometimes seem to be on a quest to incorporate as many features as possible in their devices. Although the features are technologically impressive, the question remains whether consumers benefit from feature proliferation. Manufacturers will have to strike a balance of capability versus usability and complexity versus simplicity.
Hierarchies of Failure
SoC182
Companies that do business in or sell products into the United States are already on notice that consumer purchase behavior may see a significant shift in the near future. A variety of nontraditional indicators portend trouble for some segments of the U.S. market. Together, these indicators may portray a hierarchy of failures that precipitate and predict economic distress and changes in consumer behavior.
Insights
| Signals of Change for Manufacturing | View full summary |
| D06-2530 | Download this Insight |
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Manufacturers throughout the world face significant challenges in the immediate future. The changing global competitive landscape for manufacturers includes new competitors from around the world, new competitive concepts enabled by the Internet, and competition from service companies poaching just the profitable portions of traditional manufacturing processes. Changing market needs will require new solutions from manufacturers that address the needs of aging populations, growing markets for health and wellness services, privacy and trust concerns, and sustainability issues. Manufacturing companies will find solutions in such areas as nanotechnology, biotechnology, and pervasive or ubiquitous computing. This study pulls together intelligence from a variety of Signals of Change from SRI Consulting Business Intelligence's Scan™ program in a way that suggests where today's manufacturing companies can look outside themselves and outside their industry for needs that they can address and solutions to help them address those needs. In particular, manufacturing companies will find opportunities in services related to their manufactured products. Product-related services not only are opportunities for added revenue, but also typically return an unusually high profit margin in comparison to those of some manufacturers' other business activities. Author: Brock Hinzmann. 9 pages. |
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| Scan™ Meeting Digest: 17 May 2006 Meeting | View full summary |
| D06-2531 | Download this Insight |
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This document is a digest of the Scan™ abstract clusters that participants in the 17 May 2006 Scan meeting identified. The digest includes a description of the Scan process for people who have never attended a Scan meeting, a list of the clusters that meeting participants identified, and a one-page description of each cluster's premise and supporting abstracts. The document has active links that allow the reader to access the supporting abstracts for each cluster in Scan's online abstract database. The document also has links to previously published Scan documents relating to the particular cluster. Clusters of abstracts for this May 2006 meeting include new Asia precipices, Wal-Mart physicals, leveraging evolution, inner-directed life activities, captured cocreation, big-brother backlash, architectures of participation, and social polarization. Compiler: Martin Schwirn. 34 pages. |
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Calendar
Scan™ Abstract Meetings
Scan abstract meetings (in which SRIC-BI [now SBI] staff participate in a free-form discussion of current Scan abstracts) are open for client observation/participation on:
- 19 July 2006 at 9:00 am
- 20 September 2006 at 9:00 am
- 18 October 2006 at 9:00 am
- 24 January 2007 at 9:00 am
- 21 March 2007 at 9:00 am
- 23 May 2007 at 9:00 am.