Juggling Janus – Strategy for General Managers in an Age of Paradoxical Trends

Whereas trends in the modern age tended to be linear and unidirectional, the trends in our postmodern times are more likely to be paradoxical. Like the Roman god Janus, they have two faces, and are seldom simply positive or negative, or universally ‘good’ or ‘bad’. This article identifies and describes eight such trends, and looks at each of their ‘faces’. The trends include the growth in prosperity, free markets, population growth, global bliss and gloom, the power of multinationals, worldwide media reach, the age of brands, and the decline of service. We argue that simple applications of strategy might be inappropriate in the face of these paradoxical trends, and that firms will have to consider revolutionary changes to strategy in order to achieve strategic balance.