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EMERGING MARKETS POSE CHALLENGES
rESPONDENTS rank the opportunities for growth in emerging markets as lower than those offered by clean technology.
There are probably three reasons for this sense of caution:
1. Despite their vast long-term potential, many rapid-growth markets also possess challenging business environments.
2. While emerging markets are growing much more quickly than developed economies, their rates of growth have slowed over the past 12 months.
3. Companies entering these markets must also contend with increasingly stiff competition from both local and overseas players. Productivity gains driven by investments Among the respondents, 55 % think that the opportunities to invest in processes, tools and training, to achieve greater productivity, have increased. One reason for this could be that, when faced with a highly challenging environment, companies have the impetus they need to make far-reaching changes.
Nothing will galvanize attempts to tackle legacy processes or poor working practices more than the threat of declining market share or even insolvency.
Execution of strategy is more difficult
Making strategic choices has rarely been more difficult than it is today. Companies must contend with divergent economic environments, uncertainty in financial markets and increasing levels of competition.
Yet, even if business leaders make the right strategic choices, problems can still occur. Indeed, many management thinkers would argue that the execution of strategy is more challenging than determining strategic choices in the first place. Sharpening execution will be crucial to success at a time when the business environment is so uncertain. Among the respondents, 55 % think the opportunities to improve execution of strategy across business functions have increased as a result of economic turbulence.