If Herb Meyer’s prediction of 50 million new consumers per year is accurate, as was his conjecture that the Soviet Union would fall, it may be crucial to get ready to what he labels “the greatest change the world has ever seen”.

From a business perspective, such growth implies a large and new market, but not necessarily identical to what we are used to. This new market demands cheap products, which are easy to build in large numbers and have ecological traits. An example is Tata Motor’s Nano (pictured), the world’s cheapest car. Or the Nano House: 1.300 small apartments located outside Mumbai and priced as low as $8.600.

These kind of products require a very different R&D strategy –and a new way of thinking -, which is miles away from the complexity and sophistication loved by many companies in the developed world.

What would a ‘Nano’ operating system be like? Not like Windows, that’s for sure. How would we reinvent a Nano washing machine or kitchen?

Are the brilliant minds that develop modern, sophisticated products, capable of conceiving and producing cheap, simple, “green” stuff?

The challenge is there, and so are the opportunities.

Source: BNet

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