For the past decade, Mexico has been making quiet - but steady - economic progress. Overcoming a history of financial turbulence, the country has generated modest growth, maintained fiscal stability, and quickly recovered from the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. Mexico's gains, however, have yet to translate into the surge of consumer spending witnessed in several other big emerging markets. Indeed, despite an improving economy, roughly half of the Mexican households recently surveyed said that they plan to tighten their belts in the near future.
It is no longer a question of if but when autonomous vehicles (AVs) will hit the road. In the auto industry's most significant inflection in 100 years, vehicles with varying levels of self-driving capability - ranging from single-lane highway driving to autonomous valet parking to traffic jam autopilot - will start to become available to consumers as soon as mid-2015 or early 2016. Development of autonomous-driving technology is gaining momentum across a broad front that encompasses OEMs, suppliers, technology providers, academic institutions, municipal governments, and regulatory bodies.
Technological advances have driven dramatic increases in industrial productivity since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. The steam engine powered factories in the 19th Century, electrification led to mass production in the early part of the 20th Century, and industry became automated in the 1970s. In the decades that followed, however, industrial technological advancements were only incremental, especially compared with the breakthroughs that transformed IT, mobile communications, and e-commerce.
The internet already plays an indispensable role in the everyday life of billions. Yet the surface is only being scratched. The potential to bring new and more advantages to individuals around the world, and to benefit billions more people as they gain access, has few limits. Many of these benefits could have their biggest impact in emerging markets; unfortunately, these are the countries in which internet penetration and use often lag.
U.S.-based executives at large companies remain bullish on American manufacturing, and their actions are starting to show it, according to new research by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
A high degree of product diversity has become the norm across all industries in recent years as manufacturers have expanded their product portfolios to capture new revenue sources. The product variations can be staggering to consider. So can the complexity that results.
Consumers remain smitten by luxury. Their urge to splurge was revealed in a 2013 study by The Boston Consulting Group, which found that consumers spent an annual aggregate amount of more than $1.8tr worldwide on items the respondents defined as luxuries.
Business leaders around the world feel least prepared to execute on strategies for driving growth - among them, large-scale transformation, open innovation, digital channels, and talent management - according to a global
survey released today by The Boston Consulting Group.
The "Beyond BRIC markets" -- the rising automotive markets emerging behind the quartet of Brazil, India, Russia, and China -- offer the last great growth opportunity in a world in which established markets are largely characterized by stagnation or low growth and the key stakes have already been distributed in the BRIC markets.
Five years after the onset of the global recession of 2008-2009, the sluggish pace of recovery and worries over employment and financial security continue to weigh heavily on consumer sentiment in developed economies. Consumers remain highly concerned about their jobs, personal finances, and economic future. Yet amid the lingering angst expressed in The Boston Consulting Group's 2013 Global Consumer Sentiment Survey, there are also encouraging signs.