Entertainment in 2020

The world as we know it today is not the same as it was ten years ago, let alone five years ago. Technology is advancing at a drastic speed therefore causing everything attached to it to change; economy, demography, etc. The industry that we have chosen to focus on is the entertainment industry, with regards to the evolution of technology. We will be analyzing the different changes in the past decade and try to predict what the workforce will look like in 2020. The Generations X, Y and Z are the population born after the World War II era. By the year 2020, most of the population in these three categories will still be in the workforce, with only the ones born at the very beginning of “Generation X” entering retirement.
Born between the early years of the 1960’s to early 80’s, Generation X witnessed the expansion of technology, with such things as the personal computer, video games, cable TV, Internet etc.. They are generally considered as very independent and self-sufficient because many of them were born in an era where their families earned two incomes and where divorce rates were rising. This generation was born into a faltering economy therefore witnessed the struggle their parents went through to maintain their jobs, they tend to ignore their leaders and are less committed to one employer because of that. According to the US Census Bureau in their 2009 statistical abstract and also the 2001 Canadian census on education statistics, Generation X generally has higher education levels than other age groups.
The demographic group following Generation X is known as Generation Y. This generation ranges from the mid 70’s to the early 90’s. Unlike their predecessors, Generation Y prioritizes a balanced work-life schedule. They are less willing to work long hours at mediocre jobs at the expense of their social lives. They prefer having time for themselves to enjoy leisure activities and their employers are forced to meet these increasing demands. While generation X witnessed the birth of modern day technology as adults, generation Y grew up with it as children. And as teenagers and young adults, particularly the ones born from the mid 80’s to early 90’s, Generation Y saw the rise in social media (e.g. e-mail, instant messaging, and texting) through internet sites such as Facebook, Twitter, among many others. This new form of communication became increasingly present in the workforce to the point where it is now indispensable in our everyday lives. Generation Y took social media from the classroom and introduced it to the workforce.
As we entered into the new millennium, and following Generation X and Y, a new demographic group was born. They are known as Generation Z. This cohort is born from the mid 90’s onward. Little is known about this generation as they are just starting to enter the workforce. They are also known as the “Connected Generation” due to the fact that our modern day technologies were already existent by the time they were born. They do not know life before technology .To predict what this newest generation will be like as they enter the workforce and where they will be in 8 years from now, it is necessary to analyze what they have been exposed to thus far and predict what awaits us in the near future.
With the overwhelming amount of information we receive through the internet nowadays, children and teenagers are much more exposed to current world events than ever before. The power of the social media is undeniable; students are generally more informed, more opinionated and arguably more intelligent than ever before.
The technologies we are seeing today are all about being able to get the job done faster. Mobile phones are now becoming mobile offices. Instant access to emails, agendas, video conferences among other things are all at the tip of your fingers. People don't have to get to the office to do their work; they simply have to reach into their pockets. Our prediction is that we will be seeing a lot of Generation Z working from home. Technology will also render many jobs obsolete. A few examples are cashiers, waiters, and telephone operators among others. We will also see a decrease in the number of department stores and an increase in the amount of online purchasing. Shop owners will be able to run a full time business from home with little or no need to hire employees.
Another trend we are seeing is the rise in divorce and record amounts of female students reaching higher education levels. This means that families will be getting smaller which in return means that the general population will be decreasing while the baby boomers and early Generation X population will be aging and the government will have no choice to increase taxes to be able to support this aging population. If we take all these things into account, we can expect Generation Z to be more independent than ever before and more demanding towards their employers in terms of salaries and flexibility. They will also be increasingly tech-savvy and perhaps less in need of live interaction.
The company’s workplace will entail customer service representatives, technicians, and administrators. In a future economy with the extreme evolution of technology, the company will have the following demands and obligations to its employees: * Demands: As technology is growing exponentially faster, employees are expected to attend weekly or monthly seminars to keep their knowledge of present technologies at the highest level, especially since the competition will be doing the same. Employees will also be expected to provide a minimum knowledge of customer relations and public speaking. * Obligations: The youth of generation Z are today’s children and teenagers. Therefore, the company must cater to their psychological profile as employees in order to produce the highest level of productivity in the workforce.
The generation was born in the technology era. They all received their cell phone at an early age and have become in love with gadgets, depending on them for their everyday lives. Therefore, in order to increase employee interest in products as well as consequent productivity, the company must adopt an extensive data-dependent method of storage and communication. In addition, college rates are rising whereas the generations are becoming more rebellious. It is difficult to accurately determine the importance a college degree would have on the ability of a customer service representative to succeed in his job, but as it will be sensitive topic for Generation Z, consisting of individuals who will be free-spirited and already powerful enough intellectually to handle the knowledge surrounding electronics, it is important to place little importance on academic references and more on topics of interest.
Our company caters almost exclusively to the children of Generation Z. Their job interest is peaked when there is constant learning; lifelong learners are ideal candidates for a job in technology, as technology will never be static. It is a constantly dynamic field that will remove the possibility of boredom from our employers. The company will also understand that Generation Z has grown up with the notion that happiness is just as important, if not more, than money. Gone are the days where the workaholics and the career-obsessed were the only ambitious workers. In Generation Z, all employees will offer their best performance in exchange for rights and freedoms. Those who are kids now have seen the negative effect of excessive work and no play on their parents and relatives, and they will seek employment that offers a work/life balance that will keep their job satisfaction high and their home satisfaction higher. When comparing the current productivity to the one in 2020, there will be some major differences. Today there is still a demand for man power whereas in 2020 man power will be cut back and replaced by machines and robots. This would cut costs for the industry and will increase profit. Man power will be decreased enormously but not completely. There will still be few human employees needed to make sure machines and robots do not break down. The advantage would increase the number of CD’s and DVD’s produced on a daily basis, however the disadvantage would possibly lead to the stop of production because technology would be more advanced permitting individuals to view or listen to movies and songs differently than the ways we are now used to. Another advantage which would also save money and increase profit is if employees are replaced by machines and robots, employers would not have to pay for benefits for their workers or even worry about themselves getting injured on the job.
Jobs in this industry will eventually become limited and will create a loss of jobs for many individuals who work in the productions of CD’s and DVD’s. According to PCworld, CD’s should be obsolete by 2015. Even today, many people turn to other options such as iTunes or Netflix to view their movies or listen to music. Studies should that two in five or forty-two percent say that they have not purchased a CD in the last 6 months. Therefore, this proves that eventually technology will take over and will develop a new way for society to view movies and listen to music.
Technology as we know it advances and changes all the time. Records became tapes then CD’s and now more and more people are downloading their music and uploading them on their iPods, mp3 players and even their cellular phones. VHS tapes became DVD’s and now Blu-ray, also downloading from sites such as Netflix for a low monthly fee of $8.00. By 2020, predictions are that movies and television will work by hologram. According to worldthinktank.net, they state that people want their entertainment and they are willing to pay for that desire.
The supply and demand for this new way of viewing our entertainment will increase which would create more jobs for people in society. Technology evolves on a daily basis and being able to view our movies or music in up-to-date ways is something that interests everybody. It becomes pointless to hang on to VHS or tapes for example because once they come up with new technology, they start abolishing and producing less of the old. This would mean that we would no longer be able to purchase cassettes, etc.
We believe that in the year 2020, the use of CD’s and DVD’s will be rarely of existence. The majority of the population would rather purchase, download or torrent their entertainment from home. Stores like Blockbusters who recently went bankrupt and HMV whose sales have gone down immensely is also at a high risk of bankruptcy. Netflix, video - on - demand services, iTunes and torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay all have blame on this. Digital downloading is becoming so convenient nobody wants to go out and purchase CD’s or DVD’s anymore.
With Netflix having more than 23 million streaming members in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Latin America and Ireland, Blockbusters couldn’t stand a chance. For about $8.00 a month members could instantly watch an unlimited amount of TV shows and films straight from their home. Streaming from Netflix is available to over 700 different devices such as Apples Mac’s, iPhones and iPads, TV’s, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS3 Consoles, and many more. It is easily available to anyone in the comfort of their own home.
Apples attempt to sell music on the internet in April 2003, was so successful that the company sold over two million songs in its first few weeks online. On February 24th 2010 iTunes has sold over 10 billion songs for on average about $0.69 to $1.29 (USD) a song. The Canadian music store chain Music World filed for bankruptcy in 2007. The sales of CD’s went from $105.6 million down to $68.7 million in only a year. It is the simplicity of purchasing songs online that attracts people. To purchase a song off of iTunes you simply create in account, and supply it with your credit card number. From there on purchasing a song only requires someone to click on the “Buy Me” button next to the song list and within 3 minutes the song is already downloaded onto your account.
Here is an example of how people love the simplicity of being able to download an entire film with the click of a button. On December 10th 2011 Louis CK, a famous comedian released his fourth full length comedy special “Live at the Beacon Theater.” As an experiment Louis CK had decided to only release his film digitally on his website. Selling his film at $5.00, Louis CK announced that he had already made a profit within only 12 hours of it being released. Within those 12 hours Louis CK had sold 50, 000 copies and the sales have continued to flow briskly ever since. Louis CK took an enormous risk with this bold move but being so easy and cheap to purchase this video, made it even easier for fans and people to want to buy it.
With regards to the entertainment industry and how it is continuously evolving, culture plays a big role in this evolution. Corporate culture refers to an organization’s values, beliefs and behaviors. In general, it is concerned with beliefs and values on the basis of which people interpret experiences and behave individually and in groups. Cultural statements become operationalized when executives articulate and publish the values of their firms which provide patterns of how employees should behave. Firms with strong cultures achieve higher results because employees sustain focus both on what to do and how to do it. It is not unlike, the culture of a country, region or ethnic group, just smaller in scale. Each country, depending of its culture, will evolve at a certain speed. A great example is China; which plans to more than double the value of its entertainment and other cultural industries to nearly $460 billion, within the next five years in the effort to boost domestic consumption and propel Chinese culture overseas. Such a quick and vast increase will affect China’s international competitors.
Sony Corporation is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic products for the consumer and professional market. In early 1978, Sony marketed the Betamax system for video cassette recorders. By 1979, they launched the Walkman brand in the form of the world’s first portable music player. In 1983, they introduced the world to Compact Disc, which began development of commercially based recording media. Sony extended their Walkman brand to portable CD products by launching Discman in 1984. Throughout the next couple of decades, Sony has made newer and more advanced formats using the evolution of technology. In 2008, Sony Corporation turned China into the second largest market after the United States. This lead China’s market to surpass that of Japan and became the second biggest market in the world for the Sony Group. It can be said that Sony displays many features of a traditional Japanese company. There is a sense of family and/or missionary zeal that is decidedly Japanese in approach. Most of Sony’s top officials are Japanese and together they share in the company’s collective mission. Sony carefully grooms its future leaders over many years of service. Loyalty to the company is a value that is cultivated at all levels of the organization. Working at Sony Japan is different than working at one of Sony’s many international subsidiaries. This is partly due to the importance of cultural networks; that is, the formal and informal system of communication through which organizational values are transmitted and reinforced.
Workers in Sony Japan are expected to work late hours much as they would in other Japanese companies. A high premium is placed on the Japanese principle of Nemawashi; which means dedicating oneself to the advancement of the team. Inside Sony Japan, management and staff adhere to formal hierarchical relationships, including the mentoring of junior subordinates by senior level staff. As Sony grows and evolves as an organization, the once historically Japanese cultural network is giving way to a diversity of cultures at the international level. Each of Sony’s worldwide subsidiaries operates within the business parameters and cultural norms of the host nation. The day-to-day business operations are left up to the management and staff of the foreign subsidiary. In conclusion, we strongly believe that the majority of the population will purchase, download or torrent their entertainment from home. Although it may seem to be much more convenient to download songs than having to leave your home, spend money on gas, and purchasing a hardcopy of an album, with every change there is a consequence. Many people will lose their jobs; some companies may even become bankrupt. Nonetheless, there is nothing we can do to stop technology from developing into something even more high-tech. That is when we ask ourselves; will there come a time when everything is managed by robots? What will the consequences of that be?

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