James Goodman, head of futures at consultancy Forum for the Future, says this was due to the "same old pressures" such as the need for short term profit, a duty to shareholders and a shortage of cash after the recession.
As important as tinkering has been to the nation's past, it could become a much bigger deal before long, said David Pescovitz, a research director at the Institute for the Future, a consultancy in Silicon Valley.
Natural gas provides almost 25% of the U.S. energy supply and could provide 50% by 2035, according to the 2010 report Fueling North America's Energy Future by consultancy IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.
This is because, in the future-oriented consultancy business, the generation of scientific knowledge, i.e. research in the real sense of the word, is generally not a part of the consultancy project although most clients expect the application of relevant scientific knowledge.
The sharp rise in absentees reflects larger changes in Swedish society, said Mats Lindgren, 43, strategic adviser to Kairos Future, a business consultancy.
He also barred the school's former principal, Ione Edwards, who retired in 1998, from any future employment or consultancy with the school system.
"The emphasis was on fighting the presumed causes of the decline by getting rid of low-cost foreign imports or providing more subsidies," said Harold D. Miller, president of Future Strategies, a consultancy.
NXP has just announced a financial restructuring to lighten its debt burden of nearly $6 billion.Worse, over the past ten years Europe's market share in semiconductors has dropped from more than 23% to about 15%, according to Future Horizons, a consultancy.
The idea of challenging traditional hierarchy is also starting to resonate more globally, said Mark Young co-founder of UK-based consultancy Future Considerations.
But does one measure a single sporting event, or the number of people who watch a game over the year?The only time a billion people have watched a single sporting-related event was the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, according to futures sport+entertainment, a consultancy.
