The firm hopes the report will help executives bolster strategic planning efforts, become more interconnected with customers and stakeholders and find opportunities for innovation and growth.

“Deloitte helps organisations build value by delivering novel and actionable insights on the issues that drive our clients’ business,” said Mike Canning, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and national managing director for the firm’s strategy & operations practice. “This research is geared to executives who want to spur big ideas, challenge conventional thinking and stay ahead of the competition.”

The report covers a wide range of topics including consumer behaviour, analytics, social data, public-private partnerships, emerging markets and new technologies.

It identifies eight business trends for 2013 as:

•The Rewired Customer: The flexibility of the human brain (“neuroplasticity”) enables and is driving rapid and substantial shifts in consumer behaviour. Smart companies will find ways to anticipate and capitalise on these shifts.

•The Scale Paradox: The disruptive power of analytics is helping small companies be more insightful and large companies be more agile, upending conventional wisdom about how small and large companies compete.

•Reengineering Business Intelligence: Companies are embedding social data into core strategic decisions and leveraging this data in novel and impactful ways.

•Partnerships for the Future: Recent shifts in economic and social forces are driving government and business to collaborate in unprecedented ways.

•The Responsible Enterprise: Companies are recognising the advantages that come from embedding environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their core business activities.

•Manufacturing Beyond China: China has long been the default choice for offshore manufacturing, but several converging trends are causing companies to consider alternative locations.

•Emerging Market Talent Strategies : Global talent strategies are evolving as BRIC economies begin to mature and new emerging markets evolve into major contenders on the global stage.

•Building on the BRICs: Brazil, Russia, India and China have been effective stepping stones for multinationals from developed nations, but seven new emerging markets provide fresh opportunities.

The complete report can be downloaded at www.deloitte.com/us/bustrends2013