The future is not predictable. In political and economic terms, we are in unknown territory. This book redefines the nature of modern business. In contrast to recent trends, it has a focus on human-centred manufacturing, and on decision-making which goes beyond a focus on short-term profit. The Liberal Capitalism of the USA and UK is not the only current variety of capitalism. Business is not just about managers, but requires participation and engagement by workers. This pulls together current research and practice, and poses new questions, based on cases. The world has always been unpredictable, but we had allowed ourselves to be comforted by convenient myths. It is time to wake up.

Introduction: A disruptive world and ways of knowing 1. Coping with politics: From post-nationalism to re-nationalism 2. Coping with structural change: Understanding framework conditions 3. Coping with globalisation: Local knowledge and multinational companies 4. Coping with economic policy: Innovation policy in times of disruption 5. Coping with ways of knowing: A pluralist perspective on knowledge 6. Coping with decisions: First I imagine then I know 7. Coping with sustainability: The need for non-instrumental thinking 8. Coping with methodology: Validity and knowledge about the future 9. Coping with technology: A future of robots? 10. Coping with Humanism: A Posthuman future? 11. Coping with social learning: Social and economic change through engagement 12. Coping with organisations: Socio-technical, dialogical and beyond 13. Coping with leadership: The role of judgement 14. Coping with work: Redefining relations between work life and society Conclusion