MAURICE LEVY

"A major restructuring of the relationships between economic and geopolitical powers is taking place."

22 February 2012

Maurice Levy
Chairman and CEO, Publicis Groupe

Adapting to a changing world

The world has changed in a number of profound ways over the last ten years. Firstly, the emergence of new economic powers has changed the global financial landscape. Ten years ago certain countries were engaged in a major period of economic development. Today, the emergence of these countries-Brazil, Russia, India, China and many other smaller countries-is real.  A major restructuring of the relationships between economic and geopolitical powers is taking place, evidenced by the fact that the G8 is gradually ceding power to the G20.

This restructuring however is far from complete. While millions of people have benefited from economic expansion, for many others entrance to the ranks of the middleclass remains an aspiration. For all the progress still to be made, the truth is that the relationship between north, south, east and west has been reshuffled more in the last 10 years than during the entire preceding century.

Secondly we have seen the rise of the internet, digital technology and communication. The combined impact of the various facets of the digital landscape-mobile, high-speed internet, access to information, social networks-is reconfiguring the way in which contemporary societies function and for many people is changing how they experience the world. These technologies now lie at the heart of our social structure and their transformative effects are only now beginning to be felt.

Thirdly, the global economy has experienced a series of crises unprecedented in scale over the past ten years. From the burst of the dotcom bubble at the beginning of the noughties to the financial crisis at the end, through Enron, Worldcom, Madoff and Lehman Brothers, not since 1929 has the world experienced events that caused such wealth destruction and widespread distress.

So what might the next ten years hold? While the 2000s saw an increasing equilibrium between developed and developing markets, the next decade will see the center of power shift rapidly toward new markets. The geopolitical order, stable for five centuries since the Peace of Westphalia, is most certainly about to be overrun. It is too early to say how, but the trend is palpable.

The challenge of coping with a growing population is perhaps the most immediate issue facing the world today. In the 20^th century, the world's population grew from 1.5 billion to 6 billion people. Today, there are 6.8 billion people and as the world surpasses 7 billion, reaching 8 billion by 2025, governments around the world will need to confront difficult questions about how to adequately manage the needs of billions more people.

The digitization of the world creates new challenges about how information is controlled and each one of us should expect that private information will be accessible by governmental and non-governmental organizations. At the same time, digitization allows individuals to express themselves in ways they weren't able to previously, acting autonomously and with initiative, but also poses immense challenges to the governance of society. To use the vocabulary of Michel Foucault, the "technology of power" and the entire functioning of democracies has been shaken by digitization.

The beginning of 2011 has given the world two different responses to online activism by oppressive regimes: The Tunisian approach-the rapid corrosion of an oppressive regime with efforts directed through digital campaigning; and the Libyan approach where demands for political change galvanized by online activism were brutally suppressed.

Finally, the next decade will be one of strong economic expansion. This growth will be provoked by demographic changes and a restructuring of how companies function and promote themselves, as well as the changing nature of the relationship between brands and consumers. At the beginning of the 20^th century marketing and sales techniques were top-down - the next ten years will see campaigns directed by a bottom-up approach.  

The world today is more complex than the world of yesterday, but it is arguably more just, more stimulating and more in step with the key values of open societies: freedom of expression and freedom of communication.