Epilogue: Visioning the Next Curve
The core section of the omnihouse model―CI‐EL and PI‐PM, which are also inspired by mythological stories rooted in Javanese culture (see Appendix)―are necessary for companies to secure their journey to the future. However, on top of understanding the current conditions, we must also be able to observe what we will likely face in the future. The implementation of entrepreneurial marketing will not be optimal and will not significantly have an impact if we are not prepared to anticipate what will happen in the future.
What Are We Facing Now?
Learning from various developments in recent years, we are currently faced with the following conditions.
Collaboration Is a Must
Not all companies individually have access to advantages to help them face future challenges. Those whose sources of advantage are very limited or insufficient to overcome the challenges need to immediately redefine competition and think about how to collaborate with various other parties, even with their competitors. Collaboration is the critical word in bringing our company to the future.
Highly Sophisticated Customers
In an increasingly connected world, customers are also changing. Since the early 2010s, our customers seem to have metamorphosed into a new type of customer because they can easily find and absorb an extraordinary amount of information. They have become very sophisticated with increasingly strong bargaining power. Acquiring new customers is getting even more complicated, let alone satisfying them, so, we need to find new ways to handle them.
The Need to Converge Dichotomies
Companies must be able to adapt to significant changes in the business environment by relying on flexibility or agility. Companies must continually renew themselves to exist in the long term. For this reason, it is necessary to converge various dichotomies, for example, the generational dichotomy, technology dichotomy, and merging entrepreneurial mindset with professionalism. Carrying out the essential convergence process is a challenge for companies in general.
Sound Strategy and Tactics Are a Must
The increasingly dynamic and complex business environment requires us to sharply analyze the impact of all changes on the companies we manage. We should then identify various options, which is sometimes not easy to do, and at the same time, take into account the multiple competencies we have. Finally, we should develop a strong strategy and consistent tactics.
The Importance of Talented People
To ensure success, we need talented people with various capabilities. We cannot expect that one person can have all the necessary qualifications. Therefore, companies must find, attract, develop, and retain the best people. Companies must provide conditions that enable these talents to unleash their potential, fully engage with the company, and actualize themselves. Companies must have omni capabilities to remain relevant and continue to exist long term.
Integrating Inside and Outside
We should banish all silos within the company. If we cannot have an inter‐departmental collaboration in a company due to these silos, then do not expect that we can collaborate well with various external parties and do something relevant and significant for the goodness of society. We have to ensure the integration of all divisions in the company first before we move on to aim for something bigger. We must dare to revise or update our value chain, become part of the business ecosystem (both conventional and digital), and use the ecosystem advantage to remain sustainable.
The Era of Tech‐Driven Marketing
Tech‐driven marketing has changed how we implement customer, product, and brand management now and in the future. Technology broadly also must be aimed at all humanity. Internally, we must provide various technologies to support our people so that they can maximize their value creation. We must provide technology to our customers, so our solutions are accessible. We also have to use various technologies to ensure that society and the environment are always taken care of in the best way possible.
Operational Flexibility Is Crucial
The operational aspect, of course, will also be affected. Companies must balance various rigid operating processes with very flexible market demands. At the same time, both B2C and B2B companies must improve the quality of their products and various supporting services with more efficient costs and delivery according to customer expectations (even delighting them). All touchpoints must be able to provide an outstanding customer experience.
What Lies Ahead Does Matter
Regardless of how severe the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic has been, it is time for us to bounce back. Despite the looming global uncertainty, there are several interesting phenomena that we need to anticipate in the next few years.
The Pending Golden Era of Gen Z
Referring to the World Economic Forum, compared to previous generations and based on data in 2020, we can see that the Gen Z unemployment rate has almost doubled in almost all OECD countries. This high unemployment is because Gen Z is looking for a job (most of them have just graduated from college or high school) and, coincidentally, are overrepresented in service industries such as travel and restaurants, which have recently been hit hard by the recent pandemic. Gen Z will lose their opportunity to accumulate work experience and training, which are essential for their capability building, affecting their career paths in the future.1 Gen Z's golden era seems to have been delayed a bit.
The Beginning of Metaverse
The evolution of web communities is still ongoing; from Web 1.0, it has transformed into Web 2.0, and now we embark on the Web 3.0 era, the metaverse era. As widely discussed in various forums that the metaverse, which is still in its embryonic stage, will revolutionize everything from e‐commerce, media, and entertainment to real estate. The metaverse can potentially transform how we interact socially, do business, and even make a giant leap forward in the internet economy.
Higher Relevance of ESG Criteria
ESG has become a critical nonfinancial criterion in investor analysis, which is the basis for understanding a company's real risks and growth potential. These metrics are now an integral part of the investment selection process.2 The application of ESG metrics demonstrates the widespread adoption of the stakeholder approach in various companies. In addition, using ESG measurement simultaneously shows that different nonfinancial metrics are becoming increasingly significant in determining a company's value and seeing the extent to which it realizes its various values. ESG has become a standard that is now increasingly being adopted.3
SDGs' Deadline Is Approaching
The United Nations (UN) initiated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to eradicate poverty, protect our planet, and ensure that by 2030 everyone can enjoy a life full of peace and prosperity. The SDGs have relevance to companies, although each company may have a different emphasis on each SDG goal. The SDGs are an essential guide so that companies can align their various strategies with the interests of today's society. Interestingly, the SDGs are also in line with the new genre of entrepreneurial marketing because they emphasize innovation and opportunities for opening new markets.4
The Wicked 7
Similar to the SDGs, what we find in Wicked 7 can enrich our insight related to various urgent problems hitting the world, including the death of nature, inequality, hate and conflict, power and corruption, work and technology, health and livelihood, and population and migration. Those seven problems are also part of the five sub‐elements of change.5
The Era of Sharing and the Circular Economy
We are increasingly familiar with the term sharing economy in line with the increasing number of parties who adopt it. The sharing economy's development is inseparable from the ease with which everyone is connected through multiple digital networks and platforms.6 In addition to the sharing economy, we are also increasingly familiar with the circular economy, which relies on three principles: eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials at their highest value, and regenerating nature.7 We should consider all the consequences of supporting reuse, reduce, and recycle initiatives.
The Next Curve
The next curve is our journey from 2022 to 2030. The journey to 2023, as predicted by the IMF, is seen as full of uncertainty. Beyond 2023 there is still not much to say right now, let alone the journey to 2030.
Referring to the economic growth published by the MF, we can see in Table E.1 that the world economy will continue to grow, even though after 2021, the projection shows that there will be slower growth until 2023.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022* | 2023* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global economy | 2.9 | −3.1 | 6.1 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
| Advanced economies | 1.7 | −4.5 | 5.2 | 2.5 | 1.4 |
| Emerging markets and developing economies | 3.7 | −2.0 | 6.8 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
* Projections
FIGURE E.1 The next curve 2022–2030
Consistently, the growth of emerging and developing economies looks higher than that of advanced economies. Despite slowing down after 2021, there is still positive economic growth. In addition, we can see that the projected global economic growth in 2022 is better than in 2019, and economic growth in 2023 is estimated to be the same as in 2019.
The IMF stated that the world economic outlook tends to be gloomy and uncertain. They believe there are several causes, including the declining performance of large countries considered economic powerhouses, namely, China, Russia, and the US. The war in Ukraine also contributed to the deteriorating condition of the global economy, especially in Europe, due to the cessation of gas supplies from Russia. Geopolitical fragmentation also continues to overshadow and can hinder global cooperation and trade. The world inflation rate is also expected to increase.9
The global economy may improve, stagnate, or even worsen after 2023. Our current attitude in dealing with various possibilities between now and 2025 is very decisive. Whatever happens in the next curve in this post‐normal era, we can't just stand still. This uncertain condition also suggests that a holistic approach to entrepreneurial marketing is becoming increasingly relevant in dealing with a world that will be very challenging (see Figure E.1).
During the worst moment of the COVID‐19 pandemic, although many companies then experienced a decline in performance, it turned out that there were many companies that could survive even without significant growth (being stagnant). Other companies could grow, not only because of the influence of the windfall but also because they had successfully converged their professional approach with an entrepreneurial mindset.
Policies on Resources, Capabilities, and Competencies
Companies that can still grow should optimize their resources, align different capabilities to suit their purpose‐driven strategic direction, and identify their distinctive competencies in a growing condition. In a growing state, companies can even consider diversifying.
Companies with stagnant performance can emphasize their efforts to increase efficiency, effectiveness, and overall productivity. They can carry out several marketing strategies or tactics adjustments. This adjustment may require additional resources, upgrading the existing capabilities, calibrating them with the revitalization of strategic direction, and refocusing on core competencies.
In a declining situation, companies must conduct a renewal process by taking advantage of any business opportunities available. Companies might require additional resources on top of various existing resources and even look for new ones. Companies must also upgrade their current capabilities and establish new and unique capabilities. In the end, companies can revise their existing competencies or start forming new ones (see Table E.2).
TABLE E.2 Company's Performance and Options for the Next Steps
| Company's Performance | Resources | Capabilities | Competencies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growing | Optimize available resources | Align capabilities with purpose‐driven strategic direction | Search for distinctive competency |
| Stagnant | Add more resources | Upgrade existing capabilities and calibrate with strategic revitalization direction | Refocus on core competency |
| Declining | Add more resources and/or acquire new resources | Upgrade existing capabilities and/or build new (unique) capabilities for renewal | Revive existing competencies or develop new competency |
As the IMF has said, the journey ahead is full of uncertainty. Uncertainty is something that many people fear. A study revealed that unpredictability significantly increases people's discomfort, which according to Ema Tanovic can further intensify how we perceive threatening situations.10 However, we should remain optimistic but also realistic when facing various challenges in the future.
On the one hand, the longer we delay or procrastinate change, the greater the potential for complications that arise over time, worsening the company's condition and eventually collapsing it. On the other hand, David Teece revealed that we could not avoid and deal with uncertainties even if we immediately executed the renewal process.
So, don't hesitate to collaborate. Use an entrepreneurial mindset together with professionalism. Converge various dichotomies, and develop and implement sound strategies and tactics. Make sure our talented people are not trapped in silos within the company and are ready to become part of the business ecosystem.
We should stay alert and anticipate several things in the future that will have a significant impact, for example, the arrival of the Gen Zer and the rise of the metaverse. Be flexible with changes, and don't be allergic to technology if it is a necessity.
There is nothing wrong with keeping our strong profit motive, but that does not mean we can forget various responsibility agendas related to social and environmental aspects of life. For those who haven't, this is the time to immediately incorporate the sustainability aspect into your company's business model.
The challenges on the next curve are not easy, but that doesn't mean we can't overcome them. It is proven that humans have survived uncountable catastrophes and challenges for thousands of years. If humans continually strengthen their minds, use their conscience, and use them as a marketing beacon, then the future is in hand. So, giving up is not an option.
Welcome to the next curve!
Notes
- 1 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/03/gen-z-unemployment-chart-global-comparisons/#:~:text=There%20are%20more%20than%202,about%2027%25%20of%20the%20workforce
- 2 https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/research/esg-investing#:~:text=ESG%20stands%20for%20Environmental%2C%20Social,material%20risks%20and%20growth%20opportunities.&text=This%20guide%20takes%20fiduciary%20duty,important%20ESG%20issues%20into%20account
- 3 https://cglytics.com/what-is-esg/
- 4 https://www.17goalsmagazin.de/en/the-relevance-of-the-sustainable-development-goals-sdgs-for-companies/
- 5 Please refer to Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler, Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action (Idea Bite Press, 2021).
- 6 https://english.ckgsb.edu.cn/knowledges/what-happened-sharing-economy-in-china/
- 7 https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview
- 8 https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2020/06/24/WEOUpdateJune2020; https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2022/07/26/world-economic-outlook-update-july-2022
- 9 https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2022/07/26/world-economic-outlook-update-july-2022
- 10 https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20211022-why-were-so-terrified-of-the-unknown