The Future of Co-Branding

If three such savants cannot agree on the predictability of the future, then what chance have we? ‘Futurecasting’ is, very clearly, never easy to do, and for this reason rarely a fruitful occupation. It seems hardly appropriate, however, to conclude this book on co-branding without some attempt to forecast what the next few years may have in store. There is every indication that increasing prosperity — particularly in Asia and Latin America — will continue to drive worldwide economic growth well into the next century. But who will benefit from the explosion in consumer demand? Will it be the big ‘global’ suppliers of goods and services? Or will we see resurgence in smaller national companies, which in turn become the regional and multinational groupings of tomorrow? Much will depend on political and societal factors: critically the extent to which the ‘enterprise culture’ model is embraced by developing countries; and whether, and how, public attitudes towards big corporations change.