Many companies are interested in knowing what will happen in the future. They try to predict what future trends will be. For example, will the price of oil go up or will it go down? If they guess correctly, they can make money. If they make a wrong guess, they can lose money.
Companies use special methods to make these predictions. Some companies hire people to predict future trends. One method they use is studying how people behave. To do this, they bring a group of people together and ask them questions. The companies hope that if they learn about the behavior of a small group of people, they can also understand the behavior of a larger group. They use this information to predict how people will act in the future and what they will want to buy.
One author, John Naisbitt, wrote a book called Megatrends more than 30 years ago. In his book, Naisbitt made predictions. He said that technology and information would become more important in the future. He also said that companies would need to move more quickly. Perhaps his most important prediction was that the world would become more connected in a global economy. Most of Naisbitt's predictions were correct.
Companies must do a lot of research to make good predictions about the future. Companies that make good predictions make better products and more money.