Organisations as open systems are in continuous interaction with their environments. Variables in their business environment are forcing organisations worldwide to change on an unprecedented scale in order to remain competitive. These variables will converge and in future become even more powerful and exert even more pressure on organisations to change. Discuss the following variables: Globalisation and the global economy; Technological advances; Radical transformation of the world of work; Increased power and demands of the customer, and the growing importance of intellectual capital and learning.