Global Business Network

Last updated
Global Business Network
IndustryConsulting
Founded1987;37 years ago (1987) in Berkeley, California, United States
Founders
DefunctJanuary 2013 (2013-01)
FateAcquired by Deloitte
Headquarters
San Francisco
,
USA
Parent Monitor Deloitte

Global Business Network (GBN) was a consulting firm which gave scenario planning advice to businesses, non-profits, and governments. [1]

Contents

Originally an independent firm, GBN became part of the Monitor Group in 2000, which was in turn acquired by Deloitte. [2] [3] [4] GBN was headquartered in Emeryville, California, [5] [6] and had offices in New York City, London, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. [7]

History

GBN was founded in Berkeley, California, in 1987 by a group of entrepreneurs including Peter Schwartz, Jay Ogilvy, Stewart Brand, Napier Collyns, and Lawrence Wilkinson. [7] The company grew to include a core group of "practice members", and over a hundred individual network members (or "RPs") from a range of different fields, such as Wired editor Kevin Kelly, [8] social media expert Clay Shirky, anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson, economist Aidan Eyakuze, musician Brian Eno, biotechnologist Rob Carlson, and China scholar Orville Schell.

As of 1998, The Economist reported that GBN had nearly 100 clients, "ranging from blue-chip firms such as IBM and AT&T to the government of Singapore and the National Education Association". [1] At the time, they paid annual subscriptions of $35,000 each to become members of the GBN community; for an additional sum, they received custom scenario planning. [1] As part of the GBN community, they received exposure to the network of experts, were invited to workshops and interactive meetings to explore emerging trends and alternative futures, while gaining access to training seminars, a private website, and the GBN Book Club, offering a selection of literature about future issues each month. [5] [9] [10] GBN was acquired by Monitor in 2000, [6] and soon stopped offering this membership service, concentrating instead on scenario-based consulting and training.

Before GBN, Peter Schwartz had been employed at SRI International as director of the Strategic Environment Center; following that, he took a position as head of scenario planning at Royal Dutch/Shell, from 1982 to 1986, [5] where he continued the pioneering work of Pierre Wack in the field of scenario planning. [11]

GBN ceased to be an active entity following the acquisition of the Monitor Group by Deloitte in January 2013. [12]

Scenario planning

Unlike forecasting which extrapolates past and present trends to predict the future, scenario planning is a process for exploring alternative, plausible, possible futures and what those might mean for strategies, policies, and decisions. Scenario planning was first used by the military in World War II and then by Herman Kahn at RAND (“Thinking the Unthinkable”) during the Cold War, before being adapted to inform corporate strategy by Pierre Wack and other business strategists at Royal Dutch/Shell in the 1970s.[ citation needed ] Scenario planning is thus often called the "Shell method". [13] The key principles of scenario planning include thinking from the outside in about the forces in the contextual environment that are driving change, engaging multiple perspectives to identify and interpret those forces, and adopting a long view.

Reports

In 2004, there was widespread media attention about a report that the Global Business Network prepared for the United States Defense Department which predicted "killer droughts through much of Europe, nuclear war between Pakistan and India over drinking water supplies, conflict between China and the US over Saudi oil, and an inland sea in California's Central Valley." [14]

In May 2010, GBN and the Rockefeller Foundation co-published a report titled "Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development". [15] The report explored four hypothetical scenarios, titled Lock Step, Clever Together, Hack Attack and Smart Scramble, focused on solutions to issues of global pandemics, climate change, terrorism, food insecurity, cyberattacks, disinformation, and associated crises. [16]

Related Research Articles

The Big Four are the four largest professional services networks in the world: Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC. They are the four largest global accounting networks as measured by revenue. The four are often grouped because they are comparable in size relative to the rest of the market, both in terms of revenue and workforce; they are considered equal in their ability to provide a wide scope of professional services to their clients; and, among those looking to start a career in professional services, particularly accounting, they are considered equally attractive networks to work in, because of the frequency with which these firms engage with Fortune 500 companies.

In the field of management, strategic management involves the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by an organization's managers on behalf of stakeholders, based on consideration of resources and an assessment of the internal and external environments in which the organization operates. Strategic management provides overall direction to an enterprise and involves specifying the organization's objectives, developing policies and plans to achieve those objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the plans. Academics and practicing managers have developed numerous models and frameworks to assist in strategic decision-making in the context of complex environments and competitive dynamics. Strategic management is not static in nature; the models can include a feedback loop to monitor execution and to inform the next round of planning.

Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultants for a number of reasons, including gaining external advice and accessing consultants' specialized expertise regarding concerns that call for additional oversight.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, commonly referred to as Deloitte, is a British multinational professional services network. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of employees in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with EY, KPMG, and PwC.

Scenario planning, scenario thinking, scenario analysis, scenario prediction and the scenario method all describe a strategic planning method that some organizations use to make flexible long-term plans. It is in large part an adaptation and generalization of classic methods used by military intelligence.

Futurists are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities about the future and how they can emerge from the present, whether that of human society in particular or of life on Earth in general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Futures studies</span> Study of postulating possible, probable, and preferable futures

Futures studies, futures research, futurism, or futurology is the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social/technological advancement, and other environmental trends; often for the purpose of exploring how people will live and work in the future. Predictive techniques, such as forecasting, can be applied, but contemporary futures studies scholars emphasize the importance of systematically exploring alternatives. In general, it can be considered as a branch of the social sciences and an extension to the field of history. Futures studies seeks to understand what is likely to continue and what could plausibly change. Part of the discipline thus seeks a systematic and pattern-based understanding of past and present, and to explore the possibility of future events and trends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foresight (futures studies)</span> Term referring to various activities in futurology

In futurology, especially in Europe, the term foresight has become widely used to describe activities such as:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Association of Professional Futurists</span> Worldwide nonprofit organization

The Association of Professional Futurists (APF) was founded in 2002 to validate the competencies of emerging futurists. As analysts, speakers, managers or consultants, APF's credentialed members cultivate strategic foresight for their organizations and clients. APF represents the professional side of the futures movement, while groups such as the World Futures Studies Federation, the World Future Society or The Millennium Project, represent its academic, popular, and activists expressions, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Schwartz (futurist)</span> American futurist

Peter Schwartz is an American business executive, futurist, author, and co-founder of the Global Business Network (GBN), a corporate strategy firm, specializing in future-think and scenario planning. In 2011, Schwartz became an executive at Salesforce.com, where his roles include Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning and Chief Futures Officer.

Oliver Wyman is an American management consulting firm. Founded in New York City in 1984 by former Booz Allen Hamilton partners Alex Oliver and Bill Wyman, the firm has more than 60 offices in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific employing over 5,000 professionals. The firm is part of the Oliver Wyman Group, a business unit of Marsh McLennan.

Kantar Group is a global data, insights, and consulting company based in London, England. It was founded in 1992, and has approximately 30,000 employees in over 90 countries working in various research disciplines, including brand guidance, brand strategy, social media monitoring, advertising effectiveness, consumer and shopper behaviour, and public opinion.

The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies is a Danish not-for-profit, independent futures think tank founded in 1969 by Thorkil Kristensen, former OECD Secretary-General for the betterment of our society. The Institute's mission is to facilitate knowledge about potential futures and it hosts various events during the year and collaborate on others, in Denmark and abroad. Lastly the Institute produce several publications, such as reports, magazines and books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monitor Deloitte</span> Multinational strategy consulting practice of Deloitte Consulting

Monitor Deloitte is the multinational strategy consulting practice of Deloitte Consulting. Monitor Deloitte specializes in providing strategy consultation services to the senior management of major organizations and governments. It helps its clients address a variety of management areas, including: Organic Growth, Strategic Transformation, Innovation and Ventures, Business Design and Configuration, Strategic Sensing and Insight Services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Design Futures Council</span>

The Design Futures Council is an interdisciplinary network of design, product, and construction leaders exploring global trends, challenges, and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of the industry and environment. Members include architecture and design firms, building product manufacturers, service providers, and forward-thinking AEC firms of all sizes that take an active interest in their future.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to futures studies:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter C. Bishop</span> American futurist and author

Peter C. Bishop is a professional futurist (futurologist), a retired Associate Professor of Strategic Foresight, and the former Director of the graduate program in Futures Studies at the University of Houston.

Corporate foresight has been conceptualised by strategic foresight practitioners and academics working and/or studying corporations as a set of practices, a set of capabilities and an ability of a firm. It enables firms to detect discontinuous change early, interpret its consequences for the firm, and inform future courses of action to ensure the long-term survival and success of the company.

EY-Parthenon is Ernst & Young's global strategy consulting arm. The firm was established as The Parthenon Group LLC in 1991 by former Bain & Company directors William "Bill" Achtmeyer and John C. Rutherford. In 2014 The Parthenon Group merged with professional services firm EY forming the new entity EY-Parthenon. The move was viewed as part of the continued efforts by the Big Four to move up the value chain from their traditional audit services into more lucrative areas of business, as well as to provide new points of entry to clients.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to consulting:

References

  1. 1 2 3 "A perfect day". The Economist . August 20, 1998. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  2. ↑ Levin, Josh (2009-08-03). "How is America going to end? The world's leading futurologists have four theories". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  3. ↑ "Deloitte Completes Acquisition of Monitor's Global Strategy Consulting Business | Deloitte Switzerland | Press Release". Deloitte Switzerland. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  4. ↑ "Deloitte Acquires Monitor Group (and thus, GBN) | Strategic Innovation Lab (sLab)". slab.ocadu.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  5. 1 2 3 Lohr, Steve (June 1, 1998). "Long Boom or Bust". The New York Times . Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  6. 1 2 Taylor, Chris (2004-10-11). "Forecasting: The Futurologist: LOOKING AHEAD IN A DANGEROUS WORLD". Time Magazine . ISSN   0040-781X. Archived from the original on 2021-12-16. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
  7. 1 2 "Where We Started". GBN.com. Archived from the original on January 5, 2010.
  8. ↑ Turner, Fred (2006). From counterculture to cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the rise of digital utopianism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p.  203.
  9. ↑ GBN Book Club Selections. Archived from the original on October 10, 2007.
  10. ↑ GBN Members. Archived from the original on January 28, 1999.
  11. ↑ Garreau, Joel. "Conspiracy of Heretics". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  12. ↑ "Deloitte completes acquisition of Monitor's global strategy consulting business | Deloitte US | Press release". Deloitte . Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  13. ↑ "The next big surprise – Wanted: a new way of planning for the future". Economist . October 18, 2001. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  14. ↑ "Around the world – Nasty climate". Earth Island Journal. 19 (2): 5–12. 2004. JSTOR   43879236.
  15. ↑ Puckett, Jason; Tregde, Jason; Spry Jr., Terry (2020-07-15). "VERIFY: 'Rockefeller document' doesn't prove theory coronavirus pandemic was planned in 2010". WUSA9 . Archived from the original on 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  16. ↑ Rodin, Judith; Schwartz, Peter (May 2010). "Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development" (PDF). Rockefeller Foundation . Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2024-04-05.

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