Canadian and American small-business owners will face new problems and challenges in 2009 and in the years to come.

That’s the opinion of Thomas C. Staab, president of IT staffing company Wind Ridge International LLC, in Franktown, Colo.

Stabb says an uncertain economy, combined with a fiercely competitive technology landscape, will trigger the following eight trends:

1. Globalization. With new markets emerging all over the planet, globalization is no longer a hot trend -- it’s a market reality. While it offers the potential for greater profits, it also raises the competitive stakes dramatically.
2. Bigger workloads. In a fiercely competitive marketplace, customers become more demanding. Not only must the products be top flight, but companies must offer incredible service as well.
   Strong demand for generalists. Demand for science and IT professionals is growing at a 5 percent annual rate. At the moment, the market is top-heavy in specialists. Companies are demanding high-level generalists, whirling-dervish multitasking wunderkinds who can do everything well.
3. Implementing change. Companies are still having major problems with this. Change is inevitable, change is good. The pressing, continuous problem is how to make it work immediately.
4. On-time performance and quality. Surveys say that most companies deliver less than 50 percent of their projects on time and on budget. Too often, quality is compromised for the sake of expediency and profit. Companies can no longer fool themselves into believing that they’re delivering a quality product just because it’s on time and on budget. Companies must recognize the difference between quality of fact and quality of perception.
5. Dealing with diversity issues. Companies have been waving the multiculturalism banner for a decade, yet they haven’t been dealing with cultural differences all that effectively – namely, religious, ethnic, language and, most importantly, work style differences.
6. Outsourcing and offshoring efforts move up a notch. Both strategies are now commonplace. In a depressed world economy, many companies will have no choice but to do what Wal-Mart – the largest and most successful company on the planet – has been doing for decades. Once considered the prototypical American company, ironically Wal-Mart stands as a textbook model of elevating outsourcing to an art form.
7. Strong emphasis on astute project management. Good project management has always been a company ideal. Now it’s more important than ever. Managing the right things at the right time will be an ongoing challenge for all companies