DAVOS, Switzerland; Jan. 22, 2008 — Competition, the health of the global economy and attracting and retaining the best talent top the list of threats to business success for senior executives at some of the world’s largest companies, according to a survey released today by Accenture (NYSE: ACN).
The survey of more than 850 C-suite executives in the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Japan and China also found that the pace of globalization has increased over the past year, when Accenture conducted a similar survey. Specifically, executives reported that their companies’ global reach has grown in terms of the suppliers they use, their own employees, their office locations and their customers.
These same issues topped the list of threats cited in a similar survey that Accenture conducted in 2005. The one issue that has increased in importance, however, is that of talent, which was cited by 60 percent of executives in 2005 and rose to 67 percent in the new survey.
Globalization is raising a number of concerns among the executives surveyed. More than half (56 percent) said they are concerned or very concerned about the impact of the global economy on business. Respondents also expressed concerns about their ability to maintain a common corporate culture (cited by 54 percent), as well as service remote customers effectively and understand local ways of doing business (52 percent each). One in five (21 percent) said their organizations are not adequately equipped to succeed as global enterprises.
As part of an annual study to identify senior executives’ top concerns, Accenture conducted a telephone survey of 867 senior executives at many of the world’s largest organizations. Respondents represented all major industries and the public sector and included executives at the highest levels of senior management (“C-suite” executives), as well as heads of key functional areas, such as human resources. For this year’s study, fieldwork was conducted between September and December 2007. For more information on the survey, visit www.accenture.com.