The world economy is a large discontinuous system
made up of many smaller units such as the national economies, regional economies and industries. As these smaller units go through
their growth and decline phases, they create long wavelike cyclical patterns. Systems change as
a matter of fact and when discontinuous systems change, the best way to characterize
that change is to view it as happening in cycles. However, there is a `trap' in viewing change
as occurring in cycles. Cyclical change depicts repetitious happenings or reoccurrences. The
most interesting fact, then, about these repetitious change patterns is that their actual
manifestations will be different in different cycles over time. Every cycle has a mindset of its own. As
the success pattern of a cycle ages, its mindset also recedes yielding place to a new one.
For instance, the cycle of the 1930s was built on steel, trains and farms; that of 1970s
on planes, plastics and electronics. The present cycle of the
21st century is build on computers, robots and satellites. Thus, each reoccurrence rests upon a different foundation in terms of
its environment, values and safeguards. During a cycle's climb era, innovation,
entrepreneurship and development of new markets take precedence. During the cap era, drive for
efficiency dominate. Then the rent-seeking activities try to get on the bandwagon for a share in
the prosperity. There emerges the bureaucracy, the accountants, the financial speculators and
the layers of lawyers to share the gains through their so-called `value-adding' services. The
success pattern tends to induce change, also in peoples' values. Prosperity propels change of
values. Then the downhill slide starts towards a trough. A new cycle starts up again on the stockpiles
of new ideas, new technologies and new values accumulated during the downhill slide of
the earlier cycle.
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