My sister left a copy of the March 2008 Harvard Business Review behind after staying with us this weekend. (BTW, we had a great time--definitely wish we could see her more. She lives in New Jersey.) I definitely need to get a subscription to HBR. As you would expect, very in depth research and real world information--like a book in magazine format published monthly.
The feature called Forethought really caught my attention. It was written by Richard Florida, forthcoming author of Who's Your City? (I pre-ordered--yes, I am a nerd.)
The article talks about the concept of Megaregions. What's a megaregion? "Cities and suburbs in powerful conurbations, at times spanning national borders, forming vast swaths of trade, transport, innovation, and talent."
The research is from Tim Gulden of the University of Maryland. Gulden says there are about 40 megaregions in the world, home to 1.2 billion people and 66% of the world's economic activity. As a sidenote, the research method Gulden employed is fascinating. His core tool was night satellite imagery of earth.
What he looked for from these satellite photos were unbroken strings of light which "indicates energy consumption, which corresponds to economic activity." Alongside of this, a megaregion had to have a certain benchmark of economic production. (I can actually hear some of you clicking away at this point, bored with too many $10 words so I'll try to get to the point...)
Florida's point about megaregions is that they are distinctive and local in nature. They are known for certain distinct industries, innovations and specialties in the business/economic realm. The concentration of certain skilled people in particular disciplines and industries creates certain realities. In other words, the World is Not Merely Flat. Globalization has it limits, even in the business realm. For some things, you just have to be "there", wherever "there" is.
What strikes me about this research in relationship to the Church is the importance of recognizing that the World is Not Flat when it comes to reaching people. People are still local and have a host of local realities that drive communication.
Megaregions are really centers of great influence and they need targeted missional ministry. I'm not sure if this has leaked into the thinking of mission organizations yet, but it should. I believe that megaregions will be the "10/40 window" of the 21st Century. I even wonder if entire organizations will organize around reaching megaregions exclusively, much like they did around the 10/40 window in the 80's and 90's.
Anyway... pick up a copy of the March HBR--that article alone is worth the price of the mag.
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