The second edition of this popular book offers an accessible yet sophisticated analysis of the game-changing events and trends that are transforming the world beyond recognition. For the first time in human history, more people live in cities than in the countryside, and greater numbers suffer from obesity than from hunger. During the next few decades, India will become the biggest country in terms of population, China the largest in output, and the United States the richest among the major economies on a per capita income basis. Food and water shortages will likely become humankind's most important challenges. With four new chapters on the rise of the global middle class, the transformative power of technology, institutions and the entrepreneurial spirit, and the trials and tribulations of the financial system, this book provides a thorough introduction to the challenges facing business and society in the twenty-first century.

Mauro F. Guillén is Director of the Joseph H. Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, which offers a research and teaching program in management and international studies. He is also the Zandman Professor of International Management at the Wharton School. He is the author of nine books and over 30 scholarly papers, and is a former Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellow, and a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He serves as a member of the the Global Agenda Council on Emerging Multinationals at the World Economic Forum, and a trustee of the Fundación Princesa de Asturias. Emilio Ontiveros is Founder and President of Analistas Financieros Internacionales, S.A., and President of Tecnología, Información y Finanzas, and Escuela de Finanzas Aplicadas (subsidiaries of AFI Group, a consultancy). He has served as Professor of Economic and Business Administration at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid since 1985, where he was Vice Chancellor for four years. He has been Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Royal Complutense College and the Wharton School. He serves, or has served, on the board of directors of several Spanish companies.