The Return of Power
Who controls brands, media, people?
Companies are losing control over their communications, politicians over their countries, citizens over their lives. Until not so long ago, money settled nearly all questions of power. But when the money runs out, distribution conflicts resurface. The effectiveness of soft-power instruments is fading and hard power is making a comeback: its tools are pillory, protectionism and cyberwar, instead of attraction, negotiation and persuasion. War instead of trade.
A power struggle, for advanced players only, has begun, and new technologies are constantly adding to the arsenal of weapons: Google, Twitter, social shopping, online propaganda.
Where are the conflict areas? Who deploys what means? What strategies and counterstrategies are used? Who will be the winner and who the loser? We'll be discussing possible answers at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI).