Author: Dr. R.G. Beddows
Abstract
My job, and the job of my company, is to provide strategic consulting and advice to our clients. Eighty percent of our clients are in the steel sectors and therefore we are continuously involved in struggling with the issues of long-term development in technology, costs, markets, product specifications and industry structure. We operate world-wide and so we are continuously confronted with the need to think about global developments in the metals sectors. One of our key tasks is to provide understanding and forecasts around which to build long-term competitive strategy. The problem with giving forecasts is that you can only ever be wrong. This breeds a certain humility and before venturing into the future it is worthwhile to glance back at some of the foolish forecasts of the past.
