"Cooperatives are business enterprises owned and controlled by the very members that they serve. Their member-driven nature is one of the most clearly differentiating factors of cooperative enterprises. This fact means that decisions made in cooperatives are balanced by the pursuit of profit, and the needs and interests of members and their communities."

According to The International Co-operative Alliance (a co-op trade association) there are over 1 billion global co-op members.  In the U.S., credit unions are a prominent example of co-ops.  Other highly visible U.S. co-operatives include Ace Hardware and Sun Maid Raisins.  

Co-ops are not new.  They started as grassroots organizations in Europe, the U.S. and Japan in the early to mid 1800's.  As a former midwestern farm boy my favorite early co-op is The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry.  For obvious reasons, it's more commonly known as The Grange.  

The Grange started a secret fraternity, but took off in the late 1800s as a way for farmers to organize in the face of low agricultural prices and the power of railroads.  It's still around today.

One of the drivers in the growth of cooperatives is their values and principles. Cooperative "are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others."

There are also 7 principles of cooperatives:

1. Voluntary and Open Membership
2. Democratic Member Control
3. Member Economic Participation
4. Autonomy and Independence
5. Education, Training and Information
6. Co-operation Among Co-operatives
7. Concern for Community

These sound a whole lot like the core values of coworking.  Like coworking, the co-op field even seems to have their own hyphen issue, with some hyphenating co-operative while others don't.  

We believe the use of the co-op model will continue to expand.  The co-op model provides a lot of business flexibility, but also allows for member control.  It fits well with the shift towards values-based business.

This is not a new trend.  The share of Americans living in multi-generational households has been trending up since 1980.  

But due to the Great Recession there's been an acceleration in the numbers of young adults living with their parents. Key quote from the Salon article:

"According to the Census Bureau, the number of 25- to 34-year-old adults in the U.S. living at home rose from 14 percent in 2005 to 19 percent in 2011."

An interesting insight from the book is that more men are staying with their parents than women.  The author explains:

"Women seem to be streaking ahead in educational attainment and occupational prestige. That may be one of the least recognized, but most important changes of our time. As they graduate high school and enroll in college at a higher frequency than men, women at the high end of the skill spectrum are starting to outstrip men in their earnings."

We call this trend The She-conomy, and we've written in the past about women passing men in most measures of educational achievement.   

While I agree with the author that changes in the economy is the key driver of this trend, other factors also play a part in the increase in multi-generational housing.  Increased immigration, for example,has resulted in more U.S. residents from cultures where multi-generational housing is a social norm.

The rise of two income families and longer life spans are also having an impact.  These are leading to an increase in multi-generational households for child carer, elder care, or both. 

We believe this trend will continue to grow and the next decade will see a steady increase in multi-generatonal housing.

The key quote comes from Maclean's:

"The rise of the contract worker may also be having a more wide-scale impact than previously realized. A growing gap between rich and poor in countries like Canada has been blamed, in part, on a growing number of poor quality jobs. There’s also mounting evidence to suggest that the rise of the throwaway worker has made recent recessions more painful and longer-lasting. Temp jobs? More like a temporary economy."

Obviously Maclean's is not a big fan of independent work, and sees it as a cause of income inequality.

We don't agree.  

As part of the 2011 State of Independence study we looked at independent worker income.  We found median per capita income for U.S. independent workers to be roughly the same as the median per capita income for workers overall.  

We also found a fair amount of income inequality among independent workers.  In particular 3 overlapping groups of independent workers significantly out earn other independents: (1) older independents (55+), (2) independents who have been independent longer than 5 years, and (3) independents that are highly satisfied with independent work.  

In other words, income inequality among independent workers somewhat mirrors overall income inequality.  

Our explanation - which is based on our interviews and other qualitative work - is independent workers with the right skill sets and experience are thriving and are much more financially successful than those who don't.  This is very similar to what is happening across the workforce in general.  

Because of this, we don't see the shift to independent work as a cause of income inequality.  

Instead, we think the shift to independent work is being driven in part by the same trends that are causing income inequality.  

So what's causing income inequality?  I think former Labor Secretary Robert Reich nails it in his book Super Capitalism.  

Everyone should read this book, but his recent Financial Times article We are all going to hell in a shopping basket nicely summarizes his views.  Key quote:

"At a deeper level the crisis marks the triumph of consumers and investors over workers and citizens. And since most of us occupy all four roles, the real crisis centres on the increasing efficiency by which we as consumers and investors can get great deals, and our declining capacity to be heard as workers and citizens."

The client didn't agree.  

So as you can imagine, I was pleased to see that Shell Oil (not the oil company we worked with) is starting a business center pilot project in Europe.  They are working with business center leader Regus to open business centers at several of their gas stations.  The first is open outside of Paris.

The centers are designed to the meet the needs of mobile workers and will provide pretty much all the services one would expect from a business center.  

Regus does a nice job explaining the project on their blog.

I'm  curious to see how this pilot goes.  When we looked at this the driver (bad pun intended) was the growing number of people using their vehicles as mobile offices.  This is a large and growing group that need support beyond what they can carry.   

The trends listed in the article are:

• growing U.S. energy production
• demographic shifts favoring the U.S.
• the agricultural boom
• manufacturing returning the U.S
• U.S companies dominating the IT industry
• Increasing levels of foreign investment in the U.S.

We've covered all these trends and agree they heavily favor the U.S.  We also agree that the biggest issue facing the country is a dysfunctional government.  

It's a good article that's well worth reading.

As the chart below shows, GigaOm is projecting that there will be a bit over 8 billion global mobile subscriptions in 2015.  The UN is currently projecting global population in 2015 to be about 7.3 billion. 

 
Looking at the two sources, it looks like 2013 will be cross over year when global mobile subscriptions exceeds the world's population. 

BTW, I'm a big fan of GigaOm Pro.  The content is excellent.  I've been a paying subscriber since they started and it's a steal at $299 per year. 

I have to admit I don't know much about Feminist Theory, but based on what little I know I think the analogy is accurate.  Coworking was founded as a social movement.  The core values of coworking - collaboration, openness, community, accessibility and sustainability - reflect the social orientation of the movement founders and many of today's coworking adherents. 

But coworking has moved beyond the intial intent of the movement founders, and now includes a wide range of approaches, spaces and companies.  The Rise of Coworking, from the Economist, does an excellent job describing the spread of coworking to new areas, including large corporations.  I really like their definition of coworking: 

"The concept of co-working is elastic but at its broadest means working alongside, and often collaborating with, people you wouldn’t normally."

To us, this nicely defines Coworking 2.0 because it describes coworking as style of work instead of a place, and it's loose enough to allow for the growing diversity of the coworking ecosystem.     

Just as the 3rd wave of Feminism builds on the achievements of earlier waves but also embraces diversity and change, Coworking 2.0 is expanding on the success of the coworking movement while also broadening its reach and impact. 

For those not familiar with Makers, they are part of the new DIY movement of crafters, artisans, digital tinkerers and others interested in making and inventing things.  Most Makers are hobbyists, but a growing number are turning Pro and starting small, Maker-based businesses. 

TJ's post captures some of the exciting Maker Pro news from the last year.

TJ, who's become the go-to guy on the professional Maker movement, also has a regular column on Makers at Forbes, a newsletter for professional Makers and is working on a book. 

TJ is crowdsourcing the book via Kickstarter, a popular approach used by Makers to fund their projects.  I'm very excited by the book and one of the backers (I also want the t-shirt).  We consider the Maker movement a key component of the broader resurgence in small manufacturing. 

For more on the professional Maker movement, see the Intuit Future of Small Business research report Today's Hobbyists are Tomorrow's Hobbypreneurs, which we co-authored. 

Wearable computing is not a new trend. For decades computing devices designed to be attached to the human body have been available.  Most of have been targeted at health and fitness.  Workout related heart rate monitors, for example, have been around since the 1980s.  

A number of trends are coming together to drive the recent new wave of wearable computing.  These include cheaper yet more powerful computer chips and the growing use of analytical software to turn data streams into actionable information.  

But even more important is growing ubiquity of cell phones (sort of wearable computers in their own right) and wireless networks.  These allow wearable computers to be connected to the Internet and expose their data in real-time.  

Another driver is the success industry has had attaching computing devices to machines and packages.

One of my favorite industrial examples is SenseAware from FedEx.  SenseAware is a sensor pod that can be attached to packages.  It provides a shipment's exact location, precise package temperature readings, and information on whether or not a package has been opened or exposed to light.  It does this in real-time via the Internet.

It seems to me if we've reached the point where FedEx packages wear computers, humans can't be too far behind.  

BTW, the latest Mission Impossible movie features several wearable computing devices.  One is a really cool contact lens with amazing abilities.  However, it's still uncomfortable to wear.  

Part of the process of putting the list together is a review of past lists. 

Here are 4 key forecasting lessons we relearned through this review:

1.  The future doesn't change that often:  This is another way of saying the vast majority of trends take a long time to reach the mainstream.  What changes is the stage a trend is at.

For example, we consider the broad shift towards Mobile Computing starting in 1993 with Apple's failed Newton PDA.  Others will argue the trend is much older.  Either way the trend had been around quite a while in 2008 when we said it was "taking off" due to the iPhone's recent success and the expected 2008 release of Google's Android. 

Mobile Computing has been on our list every year since 2008 and will likely be on our lists for at least the next 5 years.   This year's lists covers the growing impact of smartphones, tablets and the Cloud. 

The overall trend hasn't changed, but the forms, impacts and importance of mobile computing have changed - and will continue to change. 

2.  Trends are easy, timing is hard:   Trendspotting isn't a difficult task.  Pretty much anyone who has an interest can become a proficient trend spotter.  The hard part is forecasting when a trend will have an impact and when it enters the mainstream.

One of my favorite examples is RFID and it's short range version NFC (see this post for a description of NFC and mobile payments).  I think the first "year of RFID" I remember is 2001.  I think the first "year of NFC" I remember was 2003.  Neither happened and both technologies have made steady progress since but neither really broke out.

Here we are about 10 years later and 2012 is being declared to be yet another "year of NFC."  This is because large banks, credit card companies and Google are pushing mobile payment systems based on NFC.  There's also rumors that the iPhone 5, due to be released this spring/summer, will include NFC technology. 

We like NFC, agree it will be a successful mobile payments technology and that 2012 will likely be a break out year for the technology (it's still several years from mainstream use).  But if you'd asked us in 2003 when NFC would have its breakout year, we would have said 2007 or 2008.  So we basically missed it by 5 years.

There are many, many more examples of trends - and especially technology trends - where the general consensus around their timing was way, way off. 

BTW, I think ability of Steve Jobs to know when a technology was ready for the market - and the market ready for a technology - was a key reason he was Steve Jobs.  I also think the difficulty associated with  forecast timing is one reason why people like Steve Jobs are so rare. 

3.  Follow the Money:  Trends that are supported by clear, logical and identifiable business models tend to be the most likely to be impactful.  This is true for most types of trends, but especially technology trends. 

The reason is pretty simple.  Trends supported by business models see greater levels of investment, which greatly increases the probability the trend will have an impact. 

Examining business models also helps a lot with forecasting the timing of trends.  Going back to Steve Jobs, the iPod was a huge success not because of its technology.  It was a huge success because the Internet matured to the point Apple could create the itunes store.  The store created a powerful business model that drove the iPod's success. 

4.  No one can predict the future:  But the process of trying is extremely valuable. 

Our overall economic outlook is for continued moderate growth with U.S. GDP increasing 2.5%-3.0%.  We expect hiring and the job market to improve, but unemployment will remain high and finish the year around 8%. 

Social Trends

1.  Being Human:  A trend that has rippled through our research the past couple of years - and especially in 2011 - is the growing dissatisfaction with our de-humanized world.  Corporate employees tell us they are tired of being cogs in the enterprise machine.  Independent workers tell us they highly value the work/life flexibility and control independence provides. Consumers tell us they are looking for authenticity and honesty from the companies they buy from.  People in general tell us they are focusing more (or would like to focus more) on human relationships with their families, friends, business associates and communities. 

Because of their size, scale and customer intimacy, small businesses are able to offer employees, business partners and customers stronger human-based relationships than large corporations.  2012 will see more small businesses recognize and take advantage of this key competitive advantage. 

2.  One is No Longer the Loneliest Number:  The Internet, online distributed work tools, social media and the growth of coworking are eliminating the loneliness and lack of social and business contact traditionally associated with working independently.  Telecommuters, home-based business people, road warriors and independent workers are increasingly using these tools and resources to “work alone together”.  This growing ability to network, collaborate and socialize is making independent work more attractive, and 2012 will see the trend towards independent work continue to grow. 

3.  Senior Independents:   Also driving the growth of independent workers is the increasing number of mature workers (those aged 55+) becoming independent (freelancers, consultants, temps, etc.).  Most of these older workers will choose independence because of the stimulation, freedom and flexibility it provides.  Others will become independent because they have no other job options, and/or financial pressure to continue working beyond traditional retirement age. 

4.  Loyalty Meets Daily Deals:  There’s a lot of debate about the merits of daily deals.  We think 2012 will see daily deals morph beyond shotgun-style attempts to bring in new business to more targeted methods and systems designed to attract, retain and reward loyal customers.  Part of this is simply the maturation of daily deal business processes and technology.  But a bigger part is the growing recognition by both deal companies and their small business customers that repeat business, not new business, is the key objective. 

Technology Trends

5.  Smartphones, Tablets and the Cloud Oh My!:  Smartphones, the Cloud and mobile computing have been on our top 10 lists in one form or another for years.  2012 is no exception and we expect mobile computing devices (smartphones and tablets) to substantially outsell traditional computers.  These cloud-supported devices are changing the way business is done and creating vast, new demand for apps, online video and audio, games, ebooks, magazines, newspapers, social networking – the list goes on and on.   2012 will see a growing number of small businesses embracing and leveraging these technologies. 

6.  The Empire Strikes Back with Big Data:  The rise of the Internet and ever cheaper information technology enabled even the smallest of businesses to look, act and compete like a large company.  Big Data – the collection, manipulation and analysis of large datasets – allows large companies to look, act and compete like a small business by using data and analytics to provide personalized products and services.  It also increases their ability to aggressively compete on price.  Amazon’s controversial smartphone-based Price Check app is just the beginning of larger corporations using data, analytics and mobile computing to attack small business markets. 

7.  Big Data Gets Small:  2012 will also see growing small business use of powerful yet inexpensive cloud-based data and analytical tools.  These tools will enable small businesses to organize, mine and analyze their data to improve their results.  In particular, the small business use of software and systems that combines and analyzes data from websites, customer purchases, marketing campaigns and social media activity will grow and greatly improve small business efficiency. 

Economic Trends

8.  The Rental Economy Expands:  We’ve long covered the growing use of variable cost business models.  Also called Collaborative Consumption, the concept behind the rental economy is to increase the efficiency of goods by providing them on a variable cost basis (sharing their use). 

Obviously this is not a new trend.  But the Rental Economy is rapidly expanding because the Internet, the Cloud and advanced analytics are enabling cost effective renting/sharing of a growing array of goods and services historically available primarily through ownership. 

9.  Location, Location, Location:  A range of trends that have been building for a long time are converging to make location a key small business issue in 2012.  These include the growing power of the buy local movement, the increasing use of location in social media, a continued focus on sustainability and local food, and the growing use of cell phone and cloud enabled location-based services.  We used to think the Internet made location less important.  It also makes location more important.

10.  It’s the Best of Times and the Worst of Times for Startups:    The maturation of the Internet and other technologies (genomics, clean tech, robotics, Big Data, etc.) is creating vast new opportunities. It’s also cheaper than ever to start and grow a company, venture funding is available, valuations are high, large companies are in acquisition mode and the IPO market is opening up.  In many ways, it’s never been as easy or rewarding to be a startup than it will be in 2012. 

But 2012 will also be a year of reckoning for many startups.  The last couple of years have produced almost a frenzy of new tech companies.  Many of these firms will need additional funding in 2012, and those not able to show strong customer traction will not be able to find it. 

A few days after we released our review, usability guru Jacob Nielsen released a scathing review.  His conclusion - Amazon's Kindle Fire offers a disappointingly poor user experience.  This caused a bit of stir on the Internet as Kindle supporters and naysayers duked it out.

I read Nielsen's review and found it accurate.  As we pointed out in our First Look, the UI and overall design are flawed.  I've experienced most of the problems Nielsen identifies - especially accidental activation.

I also follow his advice to use mobile sites whenever possible.  These make the Kindle user experience much, much better.  I also think it makes the mobile experience much better than my iPhone.

But despite all the issues with the Kindle, my usage continues to increase.  It's now my preferred electronic way to read magazines, books and newspapers (I really like the Fire version of the Wall Street Journal).  And it continues to grow on me as a mobile device.

As I said in my First Look review, I've been surprised how much I like the 7" form factor.  I thought it would be too small to be useful, but I really prefer it to using my iPhone for mobile computing.  It may be my age (and/or the age of my eyes), but my iPhone is simply too small for me.

So despite the flaws, my Kindle Fire will continues to be a productive addition to my computing family.  

For those considering the Fire, I suggest playing with one prior to buying.  Make sure you try it using standard websites as well as mobile websites.  The usability flaws are real, so if you can't easily adjust to them - or the 7 inch form factor - you should consider other options.

Happy Holidays to all.

Braddock, who is totally lost about what to do next with his life, is getting career advice from the friends of his parents. 

At one point a man walks up to Braddock and says "Plastics .... enough said", and walks away.

The intent of the reference is that Braddock should enter the plastics industry, a rapidly growing field with lots of opportunities. 

Instead of getting a job in plastics, Braddock has an affair with Mrs. Robinson, the much older wife of his father's business partner.  He also drives around northern California while Simon and Garfunkel music plays in the background. 

Eventually he decides he wants to marry Mrs. Robinson's daughter, which leads to a far-fetched ending.  But I digress.

Last week we held a workshop on data and analytics with our research partners at Intuit.  We had a mix of experts on data and analytics from both large and small organizations. 

There was a very clear consensus that there is a shortage of people with data and analytical skills  - and this shortage is going to get worse and last a long time. 

So my advice to those in school?  Data ... enough said.  Oh, and stay away from my wife. 

The Pew chart below illustrates the steady decline in marriage in the U.S. 

One indicator that this trend is unlikely to turn around is the study finding that 40% of adults under 40 see marriage as an obsolete social environment. 

The Week (a must read publication if you are interested in trends) has a nice summary of the study coverage.  It explains why this is happening (increases in average marriage age, the economy, etc.), but ends with a somewhat upbeat view on the future of marriage. 

JWT also covers this with their trend "Marriage Optional".  They have an interesting interview with the author of the book Singlism: What It Is, Why It Matters and How to Stop It.  The main part of the interview is about how the increase in choices for women is leading to a reduction in marriage. 

Key quote:

So what’s different now is that women can have sex without having children, they can have children without having sex, and they can get a job that supports themselves and maybe even some kids, so they are not tethered to a husband for economic life support. And all those big, big changes mean that women can, if they want to, live full, complete lives outside of marriage.

The Decline of Marriage is a very important social trend.  The assumption of marriage ripples through our society and many of our social, economic,and business institutions and assumptions are based on a world where most people are married. 

Obviously these institutions and assumptions are going to have to change.

This makes them different from the traditional non-profits, with the main difference being they attempt to create organizations that scale and become financially self-sustaining instead of relying on a non-stop stream of donations.

It's an exciting, growing field and a key reason the non-profit sector managed to grow through the Great Recession.  

The Wall Street Journal has a good article covering the different legal structures social organizations can use to better accomplish their combined mission of social good with business practices. 

These include the L3C, the Benefit Corporation (referred to as the "B Corp") and the Flexible-Purpose Corporation.  Because of the legalities involved, I'm referring you to the article for more details. 

Also, you should consult a lawyer or accountant prior to deciding what type of legal structure you want to form. 

The growing availability and use of socially-oriented legal structures is a clear signal that social entrepreneurship continues to be on a growth trajectory. 

Their 10 consumer trends for 2012, with our clarifying remarks where needed, are:

1. Navigating the new normal:  Continued cost-sensitive consumers.
2. Live a Little:  Small indulgences instead of big splurges.
3. Generation Go:  Gen Y goes entrepreneurial.
4. The Rise of Shared Value:  Companies contribute social value.
5. Food as the New Eco-Issue
6. Marriage Optional: Don't tell my wife.
7. Reengineering Randomness:  Ok, I admit it.  I don't get this one.
8. Screened Interactions:  Computer screens everywhere.
9. Celebrating Aging:  You're as old as you think.
10. Objectifying Objects:  We like things we can touch, make. 

JWT has a lot of additional information at their trends site and their weekly newsletter is well worth subscribing to. 

My favorite features are the 7 inch screen form factor and the way it's optimized to work with Amazon's content and shopping services.  I also like the price ($200) and free access to movies and TV shows for Amazon Prime customers.  

I thought the 7 inch form factor would be too small.  But it fits nicely in my book bag and I'm already traveling with it.  When I travel I also carry an 11 inch MacBook Air and an iPhone.  I feel a bit geeky carrying 3 computing devices, but each plays a role.  

The MacBook Air let's me do real work while traveling.  It supports almost all the applications I use, has an excellent keyboard, yet is small and light enough to easily carry.  

I use my iPhone's for text messaging, quick and simple Internet access and a range of location-based applications.  The screen size and keyboard make it impractical for me to do real work on it.

I'm finding that the Fire fills a niche in-between.  It's a much better mobile computing experience than the iPhone, but small enough to use on the move and in airplanes.  I also use in meetings instead of pulling out my notebook.  

The Fire also reduces the weight and size of my airplane carry-on bag because I use it for books.  

Like the iPad, the Kindle Fire doesn't replace my notebook or any of my existing computing devices. It's also not targeted at mobile business users and doesn't have some features mobile users might want or need (wireless modem support, a camera, etc.).  

The Kindle Fire also suffers in many ways when compared to the iPad.  The user experience is not as good, the product design is not as elegant, and the feature set is smaller.  It also doesn't have the array of business oriented applications the iPad has.  

But if you travel and like to quickly and easily view a wide range of content while on the go, the Kindle Fire is hard to beat - especially at $200.

We'll update this review after we have more experience with the Fire in business settings.  

Think of them as eBay's for chores, small jobs and other personal and business tasks.  Examples include:

Coffee and Power: is a new marketplace with 2nd Life founder Philip Rosedale at the helm and funding from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and VC firm Greylock Partners.  The goal of the marketplace is allow people to buy and sell pretty much any kind of task (which they call a "mission"), although today a lot of posted tasks are IT related. 

One intriguing aspect of Coffee and Power is their plan to create coworking spaces around the country to give Coffee and Power workers (and others) a place to work.  Coffee and Power calls these "Work Clubs" and so far there's only one.  But if the concept catches on there will soon be a lot more.

Another intriguing aspect is they are offering their own virtual currency - called "coffee dollars" - and all transactions on the site use their currency.  The company guarantees a 1-1 exchange rate with the U.S. dollar and takes a 15% transaction fee on all missions.   

Zaarly:  Although a relatively new site, Zaarly also has quite a bit of investor star power.  Google, Kleiner Perkins and Ashton Kutchar have put in some of the $14 million they've raised, and ex-eBay CEO and current HP CEO Meg Whitman is on their board. 

In many ways their site looks like a collision of Craigslist and eBay, only with much better UI designers involved.  In addition to buying services, you can also buy goods on Zaarly. 

Gigwalk:  Provides a free iPhone app and pays people to use it to take pictures of stores, cafés, bars, and other businesses and places in their area.  Their claim is they provide an "instant mobile workforce." Microsoft, for example, is using Gigwalk to add pictures to their Bing local search listings. 

TaskRabbit.com:  Probably the best known of these sites.  People post tasks they want done (walking a dog, getting tires changed on a car, cooking dinner, etc.) and amount they're willing to pay for it.

Once posted, TaskRabbits - people willing to do small jobs who have registered and been vetted by TaskRabbit - bid on the task.  The lowest bidder wins and does the job. 

Online job marketplaces are not new.  Elance, for example, has been around for well over a decade.  But these new sites are using the efficiencies offered by the Internet to go after smaller jobs and person to person (often referred to as P2P) commerce opportunities that used to be considered to small to pursue. 

The beauty store industry is quite big.  According to the U.S. Census Statistics of U.S. Businesses (2009), about 1,000,000 Americans work for the roughly 170,000 shops and businesses that provide beauty services. 

This includes barber shops, beauty salons, nail salons and hair, nail and skin care services (for those of you into government data, NAICS codes 812111 - 812113). 

December's issue of Beauty Store Business magazine has several articles on beauty trends.  Retailers Have the Ball describes the changing nature of the retail beauty industry and the growing role technology is playing.  Key summary quote from the article:

"... consumers are still insecure about spending; the luxury market is taking off; technology is increasingly integral to retailing; consumers are starting to keep it local."

5 Beauty Trends, from the same issue, covers the 5 key product categories expected to be important in 2012. 

As an aging baby boomer I can most relate to the trend towards at-home skin care.  Boomers are increasingly worried about aging and looking old.  This is leading to a boom in anti-aging products.

Beauty trends are important for several reasons.  They reflect consumer trends in general.  They reflect what is going on in retail -and especially small retail - and they show the growing role technology is playing across the economy. 

Check out the articles for more details. 

The chart below, from the Johns Hopkins Non-Profit Economic Data Project, shows that while non-profit job growth slowed, the sector way out-performed the for-profit sector of the economy.

 

The non-profit segment is large, employing 10.5 million U.S. workers in 2010.  This is roughly the same size as the oil and gas industry.  About 50% of non-profit employees work in health care, with education (13%) and social services (11%) also large sectors.

Few non-profits are large (more than 500 employees) and these are mostly hospital chains and universities.  The vast majority of U.S. non-profits have less than 20 employees and the growth of social entrepreneurship helped lead to this increase in jobs. 

See our Overview of the Non-Profit Sector for more details. 

As can be seen from the chart below, the biggest disconnects are around job security and stress. 

Workforce has a good article on the study and this topic.  Key quote on their explanation of the disconnect:

"Why are employers burying their heads in the sand on job security and stress? It may be that companies feel powerless to do much about either. They can't guarantee absolute job security in an uncertain economy and may feel compelled to demand more and more of their workforce to stay afloat."

The lack of job security and increase in workloads and employment stress - the Workforce article calls this the "work-more economy" - are drivers of the growing interest in becoming independent or starting a small business. 

Betahaus is housed in a 4 story building and has a cafe, several floors of open coworking space and a big events space on the top floor.  I didn't find out their exact size, but my guess is they have around 10,000 square feet. 

Club Office is even bigger.  It's a 9 story building with over 80,000 square feet housing multiple coworking spaces, a restaurant, events spaces, traditional office space and even hotel rooms.  The building is so big and so much is going on it's a bit overwhelming. 

To put this in perspective, most coworking facilities are between 1500 and 5000 square feet and most have fewer than 60 members. 

Here in the U.S., WeWork has established large coworking facilities in New York and will soon open a large facility in San Francisco.  They just secured 74,000 square feet in a NY building and their SF location will have around 50,000 square feet.  Like Club Office, WeWork is a hybrid with coworking spaces mixed in with more traditional office space and capable of hosting hundreds of members.

We think the emergence of Big Coworking is an important development for the coworking movement.  It's hard to see how the industry and movement could scale and serve a large segment of the potential market with just small spaces. 

After all, even if there were 11,000 U.S. coworking spaces - roughly the number of U.S. Starbucks - with 50 members, they would only be serving 550,000 workers.  This is less than 1/2 of 1% of the U.S. workforce and less than 4% of the number of independent workers. 

While we believe small spaces will continue to thrive, larger spaces are going to be required for coworking to reach the mainstream.  Larger spaces provide alternative and potentially more lucrative business models, appeal to and tap into the real estate industy, and will make corporations more comfortable with coworking. 

The rise of Big Coworking is yet another signal that coworking is at a growth inflection point. 

The technology has been around for a long time, but reductions in costs and improvements in sprayable materials is making it viable for a growing number of small manufacturing and personal production applications.

There's been a spurt of press around this topic of late:

Shapeways, a leader in personal production using 3D printer technology, has announced the opening of a New York city production facility.  Shapeway users will be able to create their designs online and have them printed (manufactured) by Shapeways 3D printers in their new facility. 

Shapeways has a nice video (at bottom of page) showing how 3D printing works.  You can also take a look at their marketplace to see and purchase printed products. 

Also, the Institute for the Future has an excellent, if challenging to navigate, website on 3D printing.  It's called The Future of Open Fabrication and it's well worth wading through. 

The recent article A Strategist's Guide to Digital Fabrication, from Strategy + Business, is another good resource on this topic. 

3D printing gets a lot of press as the future of manufacturing.  We agree it will play a key role in the future, especially for small run manufacturing.  But it's just one of many technologies making small and personal manufacturing more viable.  We cover these in our small manufacturing category. 

For more on this topic, see our 3D Printing Comes of Age post from last year. It covers 3D printing in more detail and has links to other resources on 3D printing. 

But even we're surprised by a Wells Fargo survey showing that 75% of Americans plan to work in their retirement years - and 25 percent saying they'll need to work until at least age 80 because they will not have enough money to retire comfortably. 

According to a Business Week article on the study, this means 80 is the new 65. 

I haven't had a chance to review the entire survey, but 75% saying they plan on working in retirement is quite a bit higher than 55%-65% shown by past surveys on this topic. 

Also interesting is only 35% said they'll work because they want to.   Past surveys have had this percentage closer to 50%. 

These results reflect the realities of the Great Recession and the related downturns in the housing and stock markets.  For good or bad, many Americans are waking up to the reality that they aren't financially prepared for retirement.

The good news is at least one group of seniors is happy to still be working.  The survey results from the MBO Partners State of Independence study (Emergent Research partnered on this study) reflect this. 

Over 90% of senior independents (freelancers, contractors, consultants, etc. aged 65+) reported being highly satisfied with their work.

Let's hope others find similar work satisfaction levels in the coming years.