Trend spotting leads to success
Impti Du Toit
25 April 2007 at 11h00
The UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) is launching a new course this May that will help local business people master the art of trend forecasting, enabling them to make strategic choices for their businesses that result in sustained business success. Course director Kate Blaine says that in today's complex business world, competitive advantage comes in knowing what the future holds and exploiting that knowledge before anybody else does. "Trend forecasting is a global industry for the simple reason that accuracy in forecasting can be vital to the successful running of a business," says Blaine. "Getting it right can result in big profits and success; getting it wrong could mean an overstocked warehouse filled with stuff nobody wants to buy.
The UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) is launching a new course this May that will help local business people master the art of trend forecasting, enabling them to make strategic choices for their businesses that result in sustained business success. Course director Kate Blaine says that in today's complex business world, competitive advantage comes in knowing what the future holds and exploiting that knowledge before anybody else does. "Trend forecasting is a global industry for the simple reason that accuracy in forecasting can be vital to the successful running of a business," says Blaine. "Getting it right can result in big profits and success; getting it wrong could mean an overstocked warehouse filled with stuff nobody wants to buy.
"But while some get it spectacularly right - like Apple, a company that has brilliantly read the mood of the consumer and then, critically, given them what they want when they want it (the iPod, the iPhone) - most others let opportunities get away," she says. "There are easy steps that businesses can take and processes they can follow to maximise their chances of getting it right … like the more successful trend spotters out there."The three-day course, which runs in Cape Town from May 14 - 16, will introduce delegates to the range of processes and tools available for spotting trends, enabling them to distinguish a trend from a fad and demonstrate how to integrate trends spotted back into the business to lead to new product and service generation.
Delegates will be updated on the current top 100 trends sweeping the globe, and be exposed to the thinking of some of South Africa's most successful business people who have spotted trends successfully, including Raymond Ackerman, chairperson of Pick 'n Pay, and Brad Armitage, founder of the Vida-e Caffe. "The three-day programme will be largely experiential," says Blaine. "Delegates will be engaged in games, simulations and exercises to get them to absorb what they are learning in a whole new way. "We think that it is a powerful course that ultimately will enable delegates to interrogate material and process information differently, promoting business success," said Blaine. "An unseen trend could strike a death blow to any business. It is vital that South Africa's business leaders learn how to spot and work with trends or we cannot hope to compete successfully in the global economy."Global Trends will be run by the Executive Education unit at the UCT Graduate School of Business, which has a global 2005 and 2006 Top Ten rating from the Economist Intelligence Unit for its short courses.Contact Junita Abrahams on 021-406-1323. The course website is www.gsb.uct.ac.za/globaltrends.
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