This report by strategy+business proposes a megatrends framework to help business leaders think more clearly about complex external trends, and help develop an ordered, prudent, and proactive strategy for facing them. Its basic building blocks are five historical patterns active in the world today that have left their mark on all aspects of the world's economic and social fabric. These include: (1) demographic and social change; (2) shifts in global economic power; (3) rapid urbanisation; (4) climate change and resource scarcity; and (5) technological breakthroughs. The report posits that these megatrends will not just coincide; they will collide, with disruptive or transformative changes rippling out into nearly every industry around the world.