GRAVE NEW WORLD -- VIRTUAL ENTERPRISES REPLACING CORPORATE GIANTS

The other day, a noted British economist saw an extraordinary vision of the world in the not too distant future. Ian O. Angell of the London School of Economics said: "I have seen the future."

Let's share his vision. There will be global telecommunication networks covering the world via satellite and cable. Those who can afford it will be able to talk to everyone else. Those bypassed will face ruin.

"The world can only be seen as a Grave New World. It would be a world where the accepted institutions and systems of today's business and society will suffer such changes that they will generally become instinct. It will be a cosmopolitan world of the future."

Virtual enterprises will replace the present corporate system. Such enterprises will be free to relocate physically, fiscally and electronically to where the profit is greatest and regulation least. They will redefine the very nature of work. There will be no more sitting-by-the-phone office workers. There will be Road Warriors armed with their files and telephone numbers, taking these anywhere and everywhere.

The office of the present and the filing cabinets will be replaced by the virtual office, a note in the telecoms network. "Offices would be the homes, airports, cars and planes. Should a physical office be needed, it can be hired as a "hot office" by the hour, from railway stations, airports and hotels.The office, moving with the person concerned, will be where he can plug into the company network."

The demand for factory and office real estate would be a tiny fraction of the supply. This will result in a meltdown of property values. The only exceptions will be properties located in economic hot-spots. No office would mean: no rent, no light charges, no expenditure on cooling-heating. Transitional organizations will integrate into the global economy without any care for national boundaries. They will just relocate, moving from high to low cost areas. They will easily move abroad to countries with more advantageous tax and employment regulations.

Support jobs can be slashed. Part-time casual opportunities will be far more. By getting jobs done on sub-contracts from self-employed workers, companies save money. They will be able to get away with poor payments on piece-rate, the company freeing itself of legal and financial obligations towards the workforce.

Peter Drucker has categorized as "Us" and "Them". "Us" are the knowledge workers and "Them" the rest, the service workers. Production and office work will be done semi-intelligent machines or exported to countries with much lower wages.

The whole fabric of society is mutated. The first step is knowledge workers leaving the cities for cyberspace. It is this fundamental change which is causing western companies to instigate downsizing, de-layering and out-sourcing.

The Brave New World will have no room for sentiment, the motto being: "Add value or perish."

We are entering a new Dark Age. An Age of Rage with hopelessness and resentment. The reality of this age is crude terror. Crime will be the only option for losers. "Redundancy Rage" will be the focused rage form of the unemployed, resulting in organized attacks on business and against senior management.

There will be an explosion of the alternative "black economy". Axed employees with knowledge of company systems will be recruited by criminals. Data files will be the target. Opportunistic white-collar criminals will flourish.

Governments will use state police only for maintaining civil order. Other police duties will be out-sourced. Security and protection will become the only legitimate growth industry.

The global shape of society, politics and nations will change beyond imagination. The future belongs to innovative and enterprising alphas. Angell has seen the future. It works, for some.

-- Source: CORRUPTION: DEALING WITH THE DEVIL, by Chander Mehra (Siv Publications, Kenya, 2000)