The new book
The NEO Economy
Where the Future of Your Business Is Being Decided
Dr Ross Honeywill · Jonathan Coles · Iain Good
SIL Publications · January 2027
In Australia, A$628 billion a year of household spending takes place in the NEO Economy, 30.5 per cent more than in the Traditional Economy that frames most business thinking. This new book by Ross Honeywill, Jonathan Coles and Iain Good reveals the customers who populate that economy, and asks what a business must become to earn its place there.
From Chapter 1, Value at Risk
It’s late, and the chief executive is still awake.
It’s been a good year. Sales are up, and the board is happy. Next year’s forecast looks sound, and the analysts seem to believe it. But one question will not go away. How much of this success can we count on next year, and the year after that?
Every chief executive is asked to deliver future value. That’s the revenue, margin and growth the business must still be earning in five years. What keeps a chief executive awake is not the value in hand, it’s the value at risk: the value the business is counting on, but which may not be there when it’s needed.
Most of that risk sits with the best customers. They spend the most, and have the most choice about where their money goes. They also notice first when a business stops giving them a reason to stay. Many keep buying for a while, out of habit or because leaving takes effort, so the sales figures look fine. Until it’s too late. By the time they leave and the loss shows up, the customer had made the decision months before.
These customers are not some marginal group. Together they make up an entire economy: the NEO Economy.
Contents
Value at Risk
The Economy We Learnt to See
How One Economy Became Two
Desire Is the Motor
Premium Is a Spending Mode
The Customers Who Arrive First
A Business Built to Belong
The Customer Who Stayed May Still Be Leaving
When the Numbers Look Good
The Algorithm Is Learning from the Wrong Customer
When the Insight Leaves the Room
The Business Behind the Promise
Where the Next Value Lies
The authors
Dr Ross Honeywill · Jonathan Coles · Iain Good
Dr Ross Honeywill is a social scientist, internationally published author and corporate adviser. He developed the NEO classification from evidence on more than 800,000 people across three continents, and was formerly head of KPMG’s Centre for Consumer Behaviour in Asia Pacific. His seven previous books have been published in Australia, North America and China.
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NEO Economy is a registered trademark owned by The Honeywill Trust.