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This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the concept of a trend and the discourse of trend analysis.

This paper concisely discusses the concept of trends, the value of trend analysis for strategic planning and hierarchical trend pyramids as a tool to scan and analyse trends.

The examples will be given of how specific mega, meso and micro trends are related within a hierarchic trend pyramid.

The tool of trend pyramids helps to structurally analyse and understand trends and developments. Such analysis and understanding are relevant for strategic foresight and scenario planning in leisure and tourism.

The literature on trend levels and pyramids is scarce and varies in interpretation. The aim of this paper is to integrate the various viewpoints into a useful instrument for the scanning and analysis of trends and developments.

The chapter provides a library “state of the state,” discussing the issues, trends, and myths that shape the current library environment in the United States. It cites data from the American Library Association's State of America's Libraries (2010d) report. Issues discussed include library usage, library funding, the adaptation of new technologies, the profession of librarianship, the struggle to preserve public access to information, and the future prospects of libraries. The chapter discusses each of these issues in relation to public, academics, and school libraries, citing comparative data on funding and the adoption of new technologies for each type of library. Acknowledging that reality to libraries is not technological, but perceptual and political, discussion focuses on the growing role of advocacy and specific strategies that have proven successful in securing and/or preserving support for libraries. A number of commonly held myths are also examined, many of which are detrimental to libraries or inhibit our ability to respond to the issues and trends that are affecting libraries. The author concludes with some observations about the historic development of libraries, their continuing relevance in an era of rapid technological change, the need to look beyond short-term concerns and to closely examine and/or reject popular myths as we create libraries of the future.

The theoretical model draws on the pioneering work of Spector and Kitsuse (1973, 1977) describing the stages that a social problem goes through. These stages are conceptualized as cyclical in nature, with stages repeated (in modified form) across multiple cycles. Although the model provides for multiple cycles, only the first two cycles were explicitly formulated in the original paper. However, consideration of the developments described in this collection requires that we consider additional cycles, and doing so allows us to expand the model beyond its original formulation.

This paper aims to analyse the mainstream and emerging global challenges and trends in the global agriculture sector. The analysis leads to a discussion on the present state of the Russian agroindustry and possible future strategies for adaptation in the context of the rapidly changing global environment.

The design of this study is based on the application of the core methods of Foresight. First, a trend analysis is undertaken using reviews and expert methods. Trends identified are mapped using a social, technological, economic, environmental, political and value (STEEPV) framework to ensure that a broad range of trends are covered, which may be stemming from various factors affecting the agriculture sector. The analysis of the big picture of global trends and challenges, interacting with country-specific structural factors, translates are translated into the opportunities and threats, which will in turn help to develop possible strategies for adaptation.

This study develops two adaptive strategies for the development of the Russian agroindustry that are feasible in different short- and long–term time horizons. The first strategy is considered to be the most likely choice for the period before 2020. It includes radical imports’ substitution (of commodities as well as machinery and high-tech components) for ensuring national food security with inevitable temporary setbacks in efficiency and labour productivity. The second strategy, which becomes feasible after 2020, considers re-integrating Russia into global supply chains and expanding commodities exports (volumes and nomenclature) based on full-scale technological modernization with the use of international capital.

The study design is based on the assumption that Russia’s position as a country, which is highly self-sufficient on basic agricultural products and large exporter of crop commodities and fertilizers, will remain unchanged in the horizon of at least 20 years. However, long-term forecasts should also scrutinize the possibility of radical structural changes. Therefore, future research should concentrate on wild cards that can completely disrupt and transform the Russian agriculture industry and as well as the whole economy.

This paper suggests a number of recommendations on national science and technology policy for the three main industries of the Russian agricultural sector: crop husbandry, animal breeding and food processing (the fisheries sector is excluded from the scope of this paper). In addition, this paper proposes a number of measures towards alleviating the institutional barriers to raise the investment attractiveness of the sector.

The novelty of this paper lies in the originality of the research topic and methodology. The Russian agricultural sector has rarely been studied in the context of global agricultural challenges and threats taken on the highest level of aggregation beyond commodity market analysis or agro-climatic and logistics factors. There are few or no studies that lay out a map of possible long-term strategies of Russian agroindustry adaptive development. The Foresight methodology applied in this study is customized to better fit the practical purposes of the study.

Cruise tourism is a dynamic, growing segment of tourism that has long ceased to represent a mere niche and is slowly but steadily entering the domain of mainstream tourism. Yet, cruise tourism represents a minor fraction of tourism-related literature and research (Papathanassis and Beckmann, 2011). This study aims to examine the main trends and state-of-the-art developments in cruise tourism. The intension is to provide a starting point, a basis for non-specialists in this area, for further interdisciplinary research.

Using the author’s previous research and expertise over the past decade, this paper aims at providing a concise overview of the key perspectives and concepts in cruise tourism, whilst highlighting the current and future challenges faced by the sector and its stakeholders.

In this context, the potential of information and communication technologies for cruise tourism development and research (e-cruising) is underlined.

Finally, this paper offers a comprehensive systemic definition of cruise tourism and the corresponding Cruise Entities, inter-Relationships and Themes (CruisERT) framework, highlighting relevant areas and questions for further research.

This paper aims to identify future challenges for productivity research.

The research was explorative and qualitative by nature. It was carried out using two approaches: literature review and empirical analysis based on 38 interviews. All the interviewees were well‐known Finnish productivity experts, including both practitioners and academics. Literature review included a systematic examination of a selected set of international productivity articles, Finnish doctoral dissertations, research reports and studies related to productivity projects.

The paper offers a view of the current status of the productivity research field, especially from the Finnish perspective. The key productivity challenges as well as research themes and questions, which were seen relevant in the light of these challenges, are presented. In addition, some recommendations for how to go forward in the productivity research are brought out.

The paper is limited to a Finnish point of view, and further research is needed to examine whether these findings apply also to other countries. There is a vast amount of existing productivity research available and, for practical reasons, the literature review focuses only on selected materials.

By bringing out productivity‐related opportunities and challenges, the paper creates understanding about the applicable means to improve productivity in the future.

The paper helps researchers to develop productivity research forwards to grab at future opportunities and challenges.

Foresight is a framework that can be used by organizations as a tool to elaborate a possible vision or visions of the future. Identifying ways to reach the future vision that is more attractive, this framework has been created from the experience and best practices of a group of professional futurologists and is used in all kinds of organizations in the public or private sectors linked in an intrinsic way to the strategic planning process, based on the constant collection of information, the creation of scenarios, and the definition of medium- to long-term visions. It is due to this complexity in their execution that the practice of foresight has generally occurred in organizations of a certain size and is not widespread among entrepreneurs, individuals, or in small teams. To address this area of opportunity the author has structured an agile and compact version of the framework, with the simplified objective of providing its users with a degree of sensitivity toward a reduced set of future options and the author has called it Lean Foresight.

Understanding the context surrounding a brand's role is paramount to knowing what drives consumers to want what they want. The purpose of this paper is to highlight eight mega‐trends that are currently influencing the consumers' world and, in turn, how marketers deliver brand messages.

The integrated brand development and marketing firm, Hiebing, conducted secondary research to help define and identify the eight mega‐trends referenced in this paper. Since 1981, Hiebing has helped hundreds of clients find, design and deliver powerful communications that have increased brands' impact and profits.

Consumers drive the universe. Not brands. Not products. Not businesses. And today's consumers are more sophisticated than ever at tuning out messages that do not resonate immediately with their own desires or needs. Relevancy – the role that a particular brand plays in consumers' lives – is what it is all about. Unless your brand plays a role that consumers value, you are wasting your time.

This paper identifies and elaborates on eight mega‐trends that are critical for marketers to understand. Staying current with them is the first step toward creating powerful communications between your targets and a brand that will withstand the test of time.

Advises retailers that traditional strategies will not be adequate to cope with trends such as unprecedented customer diversity, market polarization and dominant mega‐retailers. Explains what capabilities will retailers need to remain relevant to demanding customers. Suggests how retail executives should begin preparing to embrace fundamental change and become truly customer‐centric.

Using scenario techniques to examine retailing in 2010, the authors explore a “world of extremes”. In it retailers will face a consumer marketplace defined by unprecedented social diversity, competitive intensity and market complexity.

As the marketplace polarizes across a variety of dimensions, corporate thinking needs to shift from “bell curves” – where firms try to serve a generic mass market but do not meet anyone's needs particularly well – to “well curves” – where companies drive growth by applying distinct business models in each part of their business to deliver the greatest value to explicitly defined groups of customers. In 2010, retailers will succeed to the extent that they abandon the undifferentiated middle and focus their organizations on serving the extremes of the demand curve, even if they play both sides.

This is one scenario from a set of possible futures for retailing in 2010.

By learning how the world of extremes scenario is being shaped by long‐running social and industry trends which, when added together, will bring about fundamental changes in the retail market, business can anticipate what steps they must take now to prepare for survival and success in 2010. These include: Craft an exceedingly focused, distinctive brand proposition; Drive customer‐valued innovation through deeper insight; Optimize core activities through systematic intelligence; Realign the organization to operationalize customer centricity.

Based on research at the IBM Institute for Business Value and work with clients worldwide, IBM Consulting identified five key “mega‐trends” that are redrawing the rules of competition for retailers: Customer value drivers fragment; Customers become more guarded; Information exposes all; Mega‐retailers break the boundaries; Partnering becomes pervasive.