Management in the Year 2050

Vatroslav Zovko

doi:10.7906/indecs.16.3.14

Abstract

Future studies are seen as a prerequisite for the development of a sustainable and prosperous society. Many countries, institutions and corporations invest substantially in the research of the future. One of the possible and expected future scenarios is the rise of artificial intelligence. It is expected that between the years 2030 and 2045 artificial intelligence will significantly surpass human intelligence. The Robocup Federation, an international organization that promotes research and development in robotics, believes that around the year 2050 autonomous robots will win a soccer game against the current soccer World Cup winners. In that manner, autonomous robots will have the opportunity to take over most, if not all, repetitive jobs and routine human activities. In addition to that, humans will be aided by artificial intelligence, creating consumers with instant, perfect information about all the products and services offered on the market. On the other hand, the labour market will be threatened by the emergence of (close to) humanoid autonomous robots that will potentially make human labour force obsolete. What are the repercussions of the artificial intelligence development for the corporate business in the year 2050? This article tries to answer that question in the light of current technological trends and the future prospects based on scenario study developed by Deutsche Post. As a consequence, the term corporation is redefined in the technological, social and economic context of the year 2050

Highlights

The fast pace of change faces the business environment and management with many unforeseen consequences; both positive and negative
Humans will be aided by artificial intelligence, creating consumers with instant, perfect information about all the products and services offered on the market
To prevent the unexpected surprises, many companies and countries have established departments, institutes and study programs that are focused on the exploration of the future [1] that directly contribute to the research and development efforts that lead to sustainable economic growth

Summary

Introduction

The fast pace of change faces the business environment and management with many unforeseen consequences; both positive and negative. Along with the expected beginning of the singularity age, we consider this argument to be the main reason why many companies and organizations seem to be focused on this exact timeframe (a good reference point for the overview of published future scenarios is the European Commission report on forward looking studies [2]). The aim of this article is to explore the role of management in one such scenario; namely A Customized Lifestyles scenario, developed by Deutsche Post [3]. This scenario is analysed from the perspective of technological progress that ends up in the Singularity age, the concept best explained by the work of R.

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion