| Trend watching in business has come a long way | | | | survive and grow (don't forget, growth is the mantra |
| from being a trend in itself to being a full time | | | | for survival), are also moving across borders and |
| profession. Trend watching helps companies by | | | | applying new management systems like Six Sigma for |
| preparing them to adopt new trends in their field of | | | | all-round quality improvement. By doing this, many |
| business. Trends change quickly without limitations, | | | | companies have proven that it is indeed possible to |
| but the lack of knowledge and timing about changing | | | | save money and improve quality at the same time. |
| trends can result in disaster if a company tries to | | | | Intellectual Property Rights: |
| make a foray into a business whose time has not | | | | I have chosen this not because this is new but for its |
| yet come. Accurate judgment about a trend's | | | | longevity. It will live longer as time goes on. One of |
| longevity is important before taking the plunge and | | | | the major ways of securing your future is by |
| investing. | | | | protecting your property, both physical as well as |
| HOT TRENDS IN BUSINESS | | | | intellectual. With the advent of the Internet, this |
| How Do You Spot New And Hot Trends? | | | | trend will only get stronger. |
| Don't restrict yourself to music, sports or the kind of | | | | Incubation Of Start-Ups: |
| stuff targeted only to the young. A newspaper or a | | | | Who had heard of an incubator for a business some |
| TV commercial will conclusively prove to you | | | | ten years ago? Start-ups that were just armed with |
| whether or not something is trendy. Just by this | | | | great ideas, no money and no experience to get |
| discussion, you can tell that getting into music retailing | | | | their business up and running were getting the money |
| is trendy. Buying new cars is a trend with youth of | | | | they needed as venture capitalists arrived on the |
| the day. | | | | scene. They invested and incubated small businesses |
| Outsourcing Business Processes: | | | | until they grew big enough to fly on their own. The |
| Outsourcing of business processes is a big trend | | | | focus was undoubtedly on technology start-ups with |
| among large corporations. Simple but labor-intensive | | | | an orientation towards product development. |
| jobs are outsourced for increased production and | | | | This business trend was started by many current big |
| cheap labor. If someone is looking for opportunities in | | | | names. (For example: Google and Sun Microsystems). |
| this field, he has definitely hit a goldmine! Simple things | | | | Six Sigma For Complete Quality: |
| like "voice to text" data conversion, data entry, | | | | The advent of Six Sigma methodology is a sun rising |
| engineering processes and content development are | | | | on the quality management horizon. This |
| a few hot trends. | | | | breakthrough methodology has already saved huge |
| Corporate Restructuring: | | | | amounts of money for companies and customers by |
| The opening of trade barriers and the advent of the | | | | removing defects in every corner of production. |
| WTO (World Trade Organization) has led to a shift in | | | | Many have achieved what could have not been |
| the corporate mindset. Downsizing and relocating are | | | | possible without implementing Six Sigma. |
| new trends today. Corporations, in their quest to | | | | |