CEOs across the globe cite business growth as the most critical challenge they face, according to the results of The Conference Board CEO Challenge 2011, which were released recently. In this year’s survey, over 700 CEOs, presidents and chairmen from across geographies and industries identified the most pressing issues they face in today’s business environment.
The global CEO consensus about 2011 suggests that growing one’s business is the key to success. Now more than ever, business leaders are turning to new ideas, products and markets to fuel growth, drive innovation, and remain competitive on the global stage.
Put into the context of recent global events – the Japan earthquake and nuclear threat, political distress in the energy-rich Middle East, labor unrest and wage pressures in Asia, and the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe – it becomes even more clear why crisis management, flexibility and agility need to be part of the fabric of any corporation or government.
Following growth, the next four most highly ranked challenges on the global level include talent, cost optimization, innovation and government regulation. After two years of the global economic crisis, talent has re-emerged as a top challenge. CEOs selected the internally-focused actions of improving leadership development/grow talent internally, enhancing the effectiveness of the senior team, providing employee training and development and improving leadership succession as the key strategies to address talent challenges, ahead of hiring more talent in the open market.
These growth-related concerns also ranked high on the regional level in the United States, Europe and Asia.
- In the U.S., CEOs say government regulation is the most critical challenge they face, second to business growth. CEOs are viewing the growing degree of regulation as both an obstruction for growth and an incentive to force innovation and create opportunity.
- European CEOs cite cost optimization as the key issue, second to growth, amid generally slower emergence from the global recession and structural issues surrounding markets and labor.
- Among Asian CEOs, the most critical challenge they face is talent – attracting it, retaining it and rewarding it – in a time of rapid economic development and change.
Unlike previous CEO Challenge surveys, the 2011 survey for the first time asked CEOs to identify strategies that are best suited to deal with their top challenges. The wide range of strategies selected highlights the growing complexity of the global business environment and the need for the coordinated interaction of diverse parts within organizations themselves. Talent management and innovation emerged as the most critical vehicles for implementing business growth strategies.
Source: The Conference Board
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