NMMU BUSINESS SCHOOL MBA STUDENTS UNVEIL MOBILITY TRENDS FOR THE FUTURE AT STRATEGIC CONVERSATIONS

Mobility Trends for the Future:  MBA students Adrian Accone, Inus Grobler, Thabanag Moleko, Quinton Fourie and Nevin Nel at a media briefing at NMMU Business School’s Strategic Conversations.

Port Elizabeth, 27 June, 2012 - Senior business and government leaders and national media attended the highly-anticipated Mobility for the Future event, a special report-back to stakeholders and industry by NMMU Business School MBA students and faculty who participated in scenario planning at the International Trend Forum in Europe with academic peers from Ostfalia University and the University of Massachusetts.

A briefing was also presented to the South African Embassy in Berlin by the MBA students.

The event was part of an on-going series of Strategic Conversations hosted by the NMMU Business School, which are intended to stimulate widespread discussion of topics of importance today in strategic decision-making and forward-thinking governance.

Presenting the results of their research as part of a multinational team comprising academic peers from the USA, Germany, China, India and other countries, and universities such as University of Massachusetts and Ostfalia University, the NMMU students identified five key factors that will impact on mobility in the future.

Megatrends that will shape the future of mobility over the next 18 years include declining natural resources and increasing demand, personalisation of services and products, urbanisation, an increasing world population and divergent demographics, and the interconnection and utilisation of technology.

The group, with academic peers from the other universities, conceived and presented three possible future core scenarios that will impact on mobility by the year 2030.

Firstly, automobile manufacturers will possibly transition from product producers to mobility service providers. In this regard, automotive firms, for example, would branch into new ventures and enterprises as reinventing themselves as service providers offering a variety of innovative mobility solutions beyond conventional vehicle manufacturing.

Secondly, a sustainable mobility movement, concerned with alternative energy for transport will come to existence. The sustainable mobility movement will be concerned with multi-modal transport such as hybrid vehicles, trains, bicycles and shuttles that utilize ‘greener’ and alternative fuel propulsion. This will be used in conjunction with e-mobility, where users rely on an integrated information technology system to plan trips and journeys.

The group believes that e-mobility, a new form of transport utilising smart phones and other devices such as tablets with innovative software, will play an increasingly important role in the near future. They forecasted the development and utilisation of applications that will help the public to plan and optimise their mode of transport.

The last scenario includes one global mobility movement. The whole world will have one mobility solution, but the MBA students believed that this is not sustainable, based on the incompatibility of different consumer and market needs in different countries.

Mobility trends for the industry in the near future include a shift from product towards product-service integration, a focus on public transportation and green mobility. From a customer perspective, trends include individuals utilising a mobility service provide and a fundamental paradigm shift in the importance of vehicle ownership. In addition, consumers will place increasing importance on factors such as convenience, flexibility, availability and affordability.

Commenting on NMMU Business School’s Strategic Conversations: Mobility Trends for the Future at Strategic Conversations Michael Pearton, General Motors SA Vice President Manufacturing said: “it was a very relevant topic to local industry and was very well presented. The interaction with the audience was very good and enlightening and I hope that we can continue the dialogue in future.”

Mr Alan Taverner, Managing Director and Dealer Principal of the Tavcor Motor Group said “I was very impressed by the caliber of the MBA students and the quality of their presentation. Their message was concise and their thinking was clearly articulated. It was a very good presentation and I enjoyed listening to them share their ideas and experience.”

NMMU Business School Director Prof Steve Burgess, who presented the keynote address at the International Trend Forum, said: "We are especially excited about ploughing global ideas, insight and intellectual resources into our community in the Eastern Cape and the other markets in which NMMU Business School operates. This forms part of our time-honoured duty as a public resource, agent of change and forward-thinking business school helping our stakeholders adapt to a rapid-changing world”.