People are ready, business / Europe is not

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Stories / possible developments

  • People are ready for a change as the society is more flexible, and the the state of the economy continues to slip.
  • EU governments are bogged down by politicians who are out for intrests of their particular country due to the dissolving state of the EU.
  • Businesses are hesitant to innovate and invest as legislation is stuck in first gear due to the low liberalization of labor laws.
  • Low economic growth is seen across the board.
  • Nationalistic governments limit foreign investment.
  • Large multinationals struggle as fierce competition from smaller rivals increases. Unable to draw up more competetive contracts with unions, small adaptive enterpreneurships flourish.
  • Massive layoffs at Phillips, Daimler Benz and SAP.
  • Galileo space program falls apart as control cannot be agreed upon. Germany wants to retain majority share and increase control in the program, and causes EU countries to withdraw their contributions.
  • Britain exits from the EU. Transfer payments and unfair portions of agricultular subsidies are paid out of Britains expense. Britain expends ties with America.

Arjan

  • Strong left-wing governments win elections in france and germany, while Labour has a historic loss in the UK
  • This unravels strong nationalistic labour forces within several countries, with more power for the unions again.
  • This results in the upkeeping of strict labour laws and a dissolving state of the EU
  • eventually the spending patterns and measures of the socialis movement causes a less flexible EU and organisation (under pressure of socialist movements and the unions), bringing economic growth to a halt
  • while the blue collar workforce is advocating many of the measures of the government the white collar workforce is becoming increasingly mobile, individualistic, demanding, and informed, causing a change towards a more flexible society
  • while european businesses struggle to become more competitive the asian (china) corporations are knocking on the porch of Europe's market
  • the socialists are brining europe into a deadlock by insisting on trade barriers
  • this causes further deterioration of the economy, while the new eastern member states seriously considder to join the russian led free trade zone in the area of independent states

Jasper

  • Many companies in the air traffic industry report record high turnovers and seem to finally have overcome the slughish years
  • A new wireless network is being launched and wireless internet is available everywhere. This new network also enables stable connections while moving (e.g. in cars/trains)
  • Because of the troubling state of the EU, many Asian economies switch to the Dollar as the main trade currency, which consequently leads to a huge decline of the value of the EURO. The Dollar becomes the #1 currency again.

ron

  • Europe is becoming one virtual workspace, physical mobility for corporate purpose diminish, European borders and legislation is gaining less importance due to the corporate trend towards the next (21st) organisation structure, virtual organisations. Businesses are taking lead, and as they are already operating across countries and continents the world including Europe is unifying towards a new model as well.

Sander

  • Employees are assigned to tasks that are stored in their profile, allowing them to work at different places and at any time
  • Employees work on the same task while physically be in different countries

Developments

Politics

Since the elections for creating a constitution for the European Union has been rejected, Europe has been going through a dissolving process. National governments are out for interest for their own countries. As a result national governments are putting limits to their foreign investments. In France and Germany strong left-wing parties win the elections, while in the United Kingdom the Labour party suffers from an historic loss. This reinforces the nationalistic behaviour within several countries, which gives the unions more power. As a result labour laws remain strict and the socialist are insisting on trade barriers. Eventually the spending patterns and measures of the socialistic movement causes a less flexible Europe and the new Eastern state members are seriously considering to join the Russian free trade zone.

Economy

The economical growth is declining throughout Europe. Businesses are struggling to remain competitive in the global market which gives Asian companies with China up front to knock on the porch to enter the European market. Because of the deteriorating economy and the low liberalization of labour laws, European business are reluctant to invest in business innovations. Large global corporations are experiencing fierce competition from smaller national companies, because they’re unable to draw up more competitive contracts with the unions. As a result small adaptive entrepreneurship flourishes on a national level.

Society

The society is getting more flexible. Teleworking has become very popular in European countries. Despite a difference in opinion, some people are now ready for taking it to the next level. While the blue collar workforce is advocating many of the measures of the government, the white collar workforce is becoming increasingly mobile, individualistic, demanding and informed.

Technology

The technology is improving at a consistent pace. Technological convergence is enabled, because major technological developments have been standardized. A new wireless network has been developed and in major cities it becomes available everywhere. It also enables stable connections while moving in cars or trains. Despite the many developments and improvements security remains an issue to handle for many companies.

Environment

The environment remains as it is. No major developments have been achieved in reducing the CO2 emissions. The European government keeps pushing society and businesses with all kinds of regulation, but it remains ineffective.

Story

Europe is deteriorating. After the French and Dutch nations have rejected the European constitution, national governments don’t foresee a bright future with the way Europe has been planning to move to. Therefore they decide to focus more on their domestic problems and future. The European citizens who seem to have shown a clear sign to the politics with which directions their countries should go with, have started a social movement all over Europe. In the United Kingdom the Labour party suffers from an historical loss and in Germany and France the citizens have elected strong left-wing governments. The new socialists are insisting on putting back the trade barriers into place and despite of the previous developments of opening the labour market it becomes even stricter as before. All the developments in Europe has been the cause of a declining economy. Because of their nationalistic behaviour national governments are putting limits to foreign investments, which only reinforces the declining spiral of the economy. The new East European state members are starting to lobby to enter the Russian free trade zone.

The global business arena is also changing. The Asian markets are flourishing as never before and because the European businesses are struggling to remain competitive, Asian companies, with China in front, are knocking on Europe’s porch to enter the market. Especially the large multinational corporations are becoming the victim of the new developments in the European market. Massive layoffs have been the result of this at Philips, Daimler Chrysler and SAP. The multinationals are being attacked from two sides. Besides the Asian wave, small national companies have been flourishing. These small entrepreneurial companies are better able to adapt to the new circumstances.

The environment is remaining stable. There haven’t been any revolutionary developments in reducing CO2 emissions and governments are continuing to push society and businesses with designing new regulations in order to improve the situation. Investments in public transport are paying off. The trend to move with public transport is increasing and the car usage is slightly decreasing. Especially the high speed rail network is popular with business people.

The mobile market is being dominated by Vodafone and T-Mobile. There have been a lot of technological developments of mobile communication lately. Wireless networks are growing at a high pace, especially in the major cities where a lot of public access points are available. Hardware manufacturers are adapting to global standards. With standardized equipment in place the workforce is becoming more mobile. However companies are still hesitating, mainly because good security remains a big issue to handle for companies.

The workforce seem to pursue different directions. The blue collar workforce is advocating many of the new measures of the government, which leads to a more traditional working environment. On the contrary is the white collar workforce is becoming increasingly mobile, individualistic, demanding and informed which causes a change towards a more flexible society. Where teleworking has been very popular in Europe, the workforce seems to be confident to take it to the next level, but since Europe, businesses and even the unions are preventing this, it doesn’t happen.

The workspace more or less remains as it is. Despite the fact that the workforce is becoming more mobile, companies are not ready for a business innovation.

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