Over the next decade, a massive wave of urbanisation across the emerging world will quadruple the size of the global “consumer class” and result in emerging markets driving as much as three-quarters of world economic growth.
This is clearly an exciting prospect for business leaders searching for new growth opportunities. However, as businesses allocate resources and develop strategies, the concept of “emerging markets”, or even groups of high potential countries such as Brics (Brazil, Russia, India and China), is no longer particularly helpful. Executives need to develop a more granular view of the world, one that goes beyond broad groupings — or even individual countries — to focus on cities.
Cities are where the growth is occurring. By 2025, urban consumers could spend an additional $20tn a year — not counting an extra $10tn of physical capital investment to meet the needs of expanding urban populations.