Topic > The Third Wave And Powershift - 1203

1.0 Introduction Strategic management consists of the analysis, decisions and actions an organization takes to create and sustain competitive advantages. This definition includes two elements that go to the heart of the field of strategic management. First, strategic management of an organization involves three ongoing processes which are analysis, decisions and actions. Second, the essence of strategic management is to study why one enterprise outperforms others. We must determine how to compete so we can gain sustainable advantages. Alvin Toffler published his theory through three books which are Future Shock (1970), The Third Wave (1980) and Powershift (1990). Each book is a stand-alone work, but they combine to form a trilogy that develops Toffler's ideas about change in a seamless dialogue. First, Future Shock examines the process of change: how change affects people and organizations. Second, Third Wave focuses on the directions of change: where today's changes are taking us. finally, Powershift is about controlling changes yet to come: who will shape them and how.'.2.0 Background of Alvin TofflerAlvin TofflerAlvin Toffler was born on October 4, 1928 in New York City. Toffler is married to Heidi Toffler, also a writer and futurist. They live in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, California, just north of Sunset Boulevard. This couple's only daughter, Karen Toffler, died at age 46 in 2000 after more than a decade suffering from Guillain-Barré syndrome. Alvin Toffler is an American writer and futurist, known for his work on the digital revolution, communication revolution and technological singularity. He's a former partner... middle of paper... king of the remote outposts at central controls. At the height of the second wave everything was "mass", from mass production to mass destruction. 4.0 Conclusion Toffler works within the mainstream of Western futurist scholarship that leans towards technological determinism. It considers technology as one of the determining factors in social change that causes a colossal transformation in the structure of contemporary society and ultimately extrapolates the present situation in a single direction into the future: the techno-utopian future. Western technoculture has been central to this industrialization project since the Enlightenment. Following the same linear trend, this technoculture project of industrialization will continue in the form of Third Wave and postindustrial society, only in more sophisticated varieties thanks to the advancement of technology.