Deflation rewards cash and makes productivity improvement the only path to profitability. Human capital continues to grow scarce and remains the number one resource problem facing retailers and suppliers. At the same time, financial capital grows more abundant. Price deflation and expanding government budget surpluses will create an abundance of capital, keeping interest rates down. Access to capital is no longer a competitive advantage.
Information becomes ubiquitous and complex.
Information is now the most important asset retailers have on or off their balance sheets. It is also the most valuable product retailers have to sell. At the same time, information overload is the most serious problem that retailers and suppliers will have to address. Getting the right information to the right place in the organization at the right time to be able to make the right decision is the business challenge posed by technological change. The search for the right information solution will force all businesses into an ongoing process of restructuring and reorganization.