Consumer-facing companies in developed economies have experienced little or no growth since the global recession of 2008 and 2009. As a result, CEOs, business unit leaders, chief marketing officers, and executive teams are looking outward, trying to spur growth by turning to new sources of customer information. These include "implicit" data such as biometrics, "structured" batches of big data such as online behavior, and "unstructured" data such as social media and call center conversations.

Big data has the potential to be both friend and foe. The Boston Consulting Group conservatively estimates that trusted uses of big data and advanced analytics could unlock more than $1tr in value annually. However, recent BCG consumer research has uncovered a previously hidden obstacle to successfully unleashing this enormous opportunity: data misuse.

China's economy continues to make global headlines, with each uptick or downtick in GDP growth, industrial output, retail sales, or other measure pored over like tea leaves for what it portends.

The stunning consumer response to Tesla's Model 3, the $35,000 sedan that was unveiled on March 31, appears to prove that Elon Musk's bold master plan remains on track. Moreover, it could well mark the day that electric vehicles went from being niche to mainstream products.

On Dec. 12, 2015, at the United Nations' 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris, negotiators from nearly 200 countries signed an ambitious agreement aimed at stemming global warming.

Most business leaders stress the importance of understanding customers to stay relevant in today's fast-changing competitive environment. Why, then, do many companies focus inward and, as a result, overlook or underestimate change signals?

Strategic planning is one of the least-loved organizational processes. Executives at most companies criticize it as overly bureaucratic, insufficiently insightful, and ill suited for today's rapidly changing markets. Some even argue that strategic planning is a relic that should be relegated to the past and that organizations seeking to prosper in turbulent times should instead invest in market intelligence and agility. Although the diagnosis is largely right, the prescription is wrong.