DI S PATC H E S | BUSINESS
Where business is heading Diplomat looks at the Top 10 trends in business for 2022. By Laura Neilson Bonikowsky
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herever they exist, trends are about human behaviour, which is predictable. Charles Tatum, psychology expert at California’s National University, says predictability leaves us open to manipulation by such elements as media, advertisers, political and social movements and social media. Ultimately, predictions can shape our behaviour and create trends. These 10 trends for 2022 represent the intersection of predictions by The Economist, TrendHunter, Forbes, the World Economic Forum and the Conference Board of Canada, and are informed by additional studies.
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Corporate sustainability
In 2021, organizations prioritized sustainability and the resulting initiatives will continue through 2022. Corporate sustainability focuses on three pillars of investment: environmental, social and governance (ESG). By investing in strategies to reduce carbon footprints and promote employees’ health and wellbeing, corporations can expect to survive and thrive with a competitive edge. Sustainability has been a growing corporate concern for several years, with recent interest in decarbonizing supply chains. The United Nations says it’s a
trend likely to continue because “in most sectors, direct carbon emissions from an organization’s operations are dwarfed by carbon emissions relating to the production, processing and transportation of products and services.” A 2019 Harvard University study that noted a movement toward corporate sustainability speculated the trend could be strategic and profit-driven rather than genuine concern. Given the current perspectives on climate change, the environment and conscious consumption, businesses have no choice but to mitigate the environmental cost of their activities to remain competitive. WINTER-SPRING 2022 | JAN-JUNE
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According to The Economist, Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched an antitrust campaign on China’s tech firms, demanding they focus on “deep tech” that offers “geostrategic advantage, not frivolities [such as] games and shopping.” Shown here is Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou.
