For over a decade or so we’ve talked about a new world order.
Yet in business conversations, I still hear: “this isn’t possible” or “this doesn’t make sense.”
It seems to me that at least two forces increasingly challenge how business strategy has traditionally been taught: technology and regulatory and governance frameworks.
For some decades they used to sit in the background – part of the context. Today, they actively shape what is possible. They define constraints long before strategic choices are made.
Don’t get me wrong. Traditional strategy tools still work. They help us think about competition, positioning, and execution. But they feel increasingly incomplete.
Looking ahead, the next 3–5 years are actually visible. We have a fairly clear sense of how the playing field is forming – at least in broad strokes, on the strategic level. That makes adjustment less about prediction and more about interpretation.
What strikes me is that technology and regulation increasingly act as long-term anchors. While markets, consumer preferences, and even business models can shift quickly, these two tend to set directions that persist. They shape business architectures, investments, and constraints over many years.
This also creates an important distinction inside technology itself.
Some technology decisions are strategic and long-term – data architectures, platforms, security models, compliance approaches. Add vendor choices. Once made, they are hard to reverse. Others are operational and fast-moving – tools, applications, and ways of working that can be adjusted more easily.
We often talk about the world becoming faster and faster. Yet many of the most consequential technology choices are anything but fast. They lock in paths.
Three areas feel particularly defining:
🟢 Technology
Privacy, security, and data governance are no longer side topics. They shape products, architectures, and trust. Also ability to benefit from AI. As regulation makes these issues more visible, people seem to be reconsidering what they are willing to trade away. New products are emerging.
🟢 Environment
Physical limits, resource constraints, and environmental regulation increasingly shape how companies can operate over time. These factors set long-term conditions that strategy needs to account for – whether or not they are handled under sustainability.
🟢 World
The world was fragmenting into regions already before the pandemics. Eventually we will find ways to cooperate and cope, via new forms and constellations. New alliances, networks, collaborations. Companies that understand this shift can still grow and flourish.
I don’t see us returning to earlier models.
What I believe is this:
We need strategies that are grounded in these long-term system realities – while remaining flexible at the faster, more operational layers?
Because in a world full of motion, seeing the forest for the trees may matter more than ever.
