By Cecil Johnson,
McClatchy Newspapers
‘Future Inc.: How Businesses Can Anticipate and Profit From What’s Next,’ by Eric Garland, AMACOM ($23.95)
Futurist Eric Garland is not just elaborating on the obvious when he writes that China will “overtake the United States as the world’s number one beer market” before the end of this century.
Garland freely admits in his new book, Future Inc., that it doesn’t require a clairvoyant or a rocket scientist to figure that out.
“It’s always a good idea to consider the impact of the Chinese market when considering the future of anything. When a small percentage of a country with over a billion people starts doing anything more, it can change the dynamics of that industry,” Garland writes.
Another reason that the volume of beer consumed in China will before long exceed that guzzled in the United States is that beer drinking is on the decline in the United State relative to other alcoholic beverages, Garland says.
That trend and the increase in Chinese beer consumption are among the findings he unearthed in researching the future of beer. That led him to the conclusion that beer drinking is no longer what it used to be in the United States and that, despite heavy advertising, it is not likely to be that way again.
Garland says that while overall U.S. consumption of alcoholic beverages is steadily increasing, beer consumption is not, because many young, new drinkers are choosing vodka and pinot noir and other wines.
This book on futuring succeeds as Garland dares to approach the subject differently than most other futurists. He shows how to envision the extraordinary developments of tomorrow by thoroughly researching and analyzing such ordinary fare of today as beer.