WBD Topics

The 14th World Business Dialogue aims at analysing complexity and complex systems and elaborating on future prospects. Key topics for a profound discussion about complexity are:

European Union

Between Integration and Confrontation

The European Union is, on the one hand, the world?s most successful project of regional integration and has gained enormous power in international politics and economics. On the other hand, the decision about Greece?s future demonstrates how complex and intransparent interdependencies are within the union. It is not evident, who is responsible for which decision. How can interests and different standpoints of political and business actors be united and accommodated in the end?

Creating Tomorrow's Business

How can we deal with complex systems?

Which requirements for managers and leaders are imposed by the "global village" and the challenges of our time? How can interconnections in the globalized world be organized and managed? Entrepreneurs and managers are central actors within the complex economic system. Modern value added chains generate networks of companies that are crucial competitors in contrast to former singular companies in rivalry.

Operating globally

An increasing degree of globalization implies a more and more complex corporate value creation. Research, production and sales take place in every part of the word. Value chains encompass the entire globe and contain a variety of challenges. Different stages of production take place at different production sites, products are then distributed globally. Therefore supply chains play a major role. However, due to our highly dynamic economy, they are affected by enormous volatility and the risk of a system failure cannot be ignored regarding the sensitive interdependencies.

As requirements towards the operations of companies highly diverge from region to region, companies with a multinational presence face an increasing complexity within and outside of their corporate perimeters. Dealing with employees and consumers, companies have to build bridges between different social values and their own philosophy. If a company manages to do this successfully, new markets and opportunities emerge, especially for the industrial sector.