Executive insights: Global marketing management: At the dawn of the new millennium

Dramatic global economic changes are tinder way at the dawn of the new millennium, such as the new Euro currency, Asian economic downturn, instantaneous flows of capital, new global conglomerates, and the growth of the Internet. These changes will have a profound impact on global marketing management, including increasing risk and uncertainty, real-time information management, and rapid response to global developments. Cross-impact analysis will become a more important tool for dealing with uncertain interactions among complex forces. The managerial mindset will have to grasp the big picture, think outside the box, discount the present to create the future, and move far beyond benchmarking. This will lead to changes in decision-making orientations, including a shift from relatively stable environments and mechanistic management approaches to more turbulent environments and systemic management approaches and a shift from hard facts for solving problems to virtual facts for problem prevention.