Millennials and Generation Z as customer and client: changing trade for next generation businesses

Carolyn Thurston Smith, one of our policy executives,  will be moderating a panel at next month’s World Trade Organisation’s Public Forum: Millennials and Generation Z as customer and client: changing trade for next generation businesses 

In a couple of weeks delegates from across the globe will be gathering in Geneva for the World Trade Organization’s Public Forum 2019. The theme of this year’s forum is “Trading Forward: Adapting to a changing world”.

Over the last couple of years I’ve been working with our newly-created Trade Policy Working Group to feed into trade policy issues, which have come to the fore in the wake of Brexit. This, of course, encompasses promoting the role of solicitors in providing legal services to international clients but we’ve also been considering trade policy more generally as part of our public interest mandate. We successfully applied to host a workshop as part of the forum, which will look at Millennials and Generation Z as customer and client: changing trade for next generation businesses. 

Generation Z and Millennials are increasingly globalist in outlook, motivated and engaged by social and environmental responsibility in the wake of increasing concerns around climate change. Driven by incessant interconnectedness, they are used to a virtual digital world without borders where new income streams and business models, including social enterprises are the norm. The panel will explore how a changing business demographic will impact on the trade agenda and present insights on the following questions: 

• What do Millennials and Generation Z, in their capacity as consumers, clients and employees, expect from businesses?
• How are business adapting to meet those challenges?
• What is the impact of this shift on developing countries and what are the future trading opportunities for businesses based in or operating there?
• How do we incorporate ethical issues into trade policy discussions at the multilateral level to engage and serve next generation businesses?

In Scotland we’re already seeing huge changes in the legal sector around technology, business models and working patterns as well as awareness of CSR and social and environmental responsibility. The workshop will provide a platform to explore those issues in a wider context - to identify areas of commonality, share learning and inform our own thinking as we seek to provide thought leadership in this area. 

I’m really looking forward to moderating the session and working with our international panellists: Faith Tigere , an international trade and investment professional; George Riddell, Associate Director for International Trade Policy at Deloitte; Anna Drozd, who works as EU Policy Adviser UK Law Societies’ Joint Brussels Office leading on issues such as EU Internal Market for legal services, international trade in legal services, and technology; and Anna Widegren, Secretary General of the European Youth Forum, who specialises in international dialogue and youth policy issues.  

If you’re interested in the Law Society’s work on trade policy, check out our webpage or feel free to get in touch with me for a chat.