Will McKinsey exist in 50 years’ time? This question has lodged itself in my mind after reading a piece in the firm’s magazine that tells us what business people will be thinking about for the next half-century.

The McKinsey Quarterly is 50 years old, and it has chosen to celebrate its birthday with a momentous article based on many years’ research by the firm’s sharpest minds.

As the resulting piece isn’t terribly snappy, here is a potted summary. The future, the consultants say, is going to be very big. Unfortunately, the past isn’t going to be a good guide to it. Or as they put it: “With more discontinuity and volatility and with long-term charts no longer looking like smooth upward curves, long-held assumptions giving way, and seemingly powerful business models becoming upended.”