A Seismic Shift

Deloitte's "Business Trends 2014" report focuses on the next wave of globalization

Over the last three decades, developed economies have enjoyed the benefits of first-mover advantage in globalizing their operations, which has given a major shot in the arm to the West's bottom line. Now, developing economies are looking to catch up, and are poised to start competing with legacy players in a serious way, perhaps even flipping the script on the longstanding global business power structure. Deloitte's recent report, Business Trends 2014: The Next Wave of Globalization , shows leaders in the developing world are brimming with confidence that sunnier days are ahead. Deloitte's Eamonn Kelly sat down with Consulting to take a deeper dive into the seismic shift happening beneath our feet. Consulting: What was your overall sense of the survey results?

Kelly: We surveyed 423 business executives from companies both in developed and emerging economies. Part of what we were looking for was a sense of what the business leaders in companies with different legacies and cultures and histories were feeling about the next wave of globalization. It was quite interesting that the executives working for the emerging market companies demonstrated a higher level of optimism for the future than the developed economies. They were both reasonably optimistic but there was quite a distinct difference.