.jpg)
IBM and The Stock Exchange of Thailand together announce a major new IBM survey called IBM 2010 CEO Study in a seminar on “The 2010 CEO Study Launch: Capitalizing on Complexity”. According to the survey of more than 1,500 Chief Executive Officers from 60 countries and 33 industries worldwide, chief executives believe that -- more than rigor, management discipline, integrity or even vision -- successfully navigating an increasing complex world will require creativity. Over 100 listed companies’ top executives attend the seminar held on September 8, 2010.
Conducted through in-person interviews with consultants from IBM’s Global Business Services, less than half of global CEOs believe their enterprises are adequately prepared to handle a highly volatile, increasingly complex business environment. CEOs are confronted with massive shifts – new government regulations, changes in global economic power centers, accelerated industry transformation, growing volumes of data, rapidly evolving customer preferences – that, according to the study, can be overcome by instilling “creativity” throughout an organization.
More than 60 percent of global CEOs believe industry transformation is the top factor contributing to uncertainty, and the finding indicates a need to discover innovative ways of managing an organization’s structure, finances, people and strategy.
The study also uncovers starkly divergent strategic concerns and priorities among CEOs in Asia, Japan, Europe or North America – the first time such clear regional variations have appeared in this biennial survey of private and public sector leaders.
"Coming out of the worst economic downturn in our professional lifetimes -- and facing a new normal that is distinctly different -- it is remarkable that CEOs identify creativity as the number one leadership competency of the successful enterprise of the future," said Thanwa Laohasiriwong, Country General Manager, IBM Thailand Co.,Ltd. "But step back and think about it, and this is entirely consistent with the other top finding in our Study -- that the biggest challenge facing enterprises from here on will be the accelerating complexity and the velocity of a world that is operating as a massively interconnected system."
Charamporn Jotikasathira, President of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, a co-host of the seminar believes that in a rapidly-changing environment resulting in increasingly complex business, the survey result and panel discussion would benefit listed companies’ executives in broaden strategic and corporate management. SET continuously support activities that would strengthen listed company’s potentials, as well as develop the capital market, to increase attractiveness for both domestic and foreign investors.
Managing complexity
The CEOs interviewed told IBM that today’s business environment is volatile, uncertain and increasingly complex. Eight in ten CEOs expect their environment to grow significantly more complex but only 49 percent believe their organizations are equipped to deal with it successfully – the largest leadership challenge identified in eight years of research.
The CEOs said that the complexity of an interconnected world is aggravated by a number of factors. For example, CEOs expect revenue from new sources to double over the next five years and 76 percent of CEOs foresee the shift of economic power to rapidly developing markets.
Over the last four studies, the expected impact of technology on organizations has risen from 6th to 2nd place in importance, revealing that CEOs understand that technology and the interconnection of the world's infrastructures is contributing to the complexity they face, and also reveals that they need more technology-based answers to succeed in a world that is massively interconnected.
The study highlights the attributes of top-performing organizations based on revenue and profit performance during the past five years, including the economic downturn.
- Top performing organizations are 54 percent more likely than others to make rapid decisions. CEOs indicated they are learning to respond swiftly with new ideas to address the deep changes affecting their organizations.
- 95 percent of top performing organizations identified getting closer to customers as their most important strategic initiative over the next five years – using Web, interactive and social media channels to rethink how they engage with customers and citizens. They view the historic explosion of information and global information flows as opportunities, rather than threats.
- Organizations that have built superior operating dexterity expect to capture 20 percent more of their future revenue from new sources than their more traditional peers.
Creativity and People Skills High on ASEAN CEO Agendas
The overall findings for ASEAN are similar to the Global Study findings, with a vast majority of CEOs anticipating even greater complexity in the future. ASEAN CEOs also believe that creativity is the most important leadership quality they intend to focus on in the future.
In ASEAN, while the CEOs agreed on industry transformation and information explosion as being the top two factors impacting their organization over the next five years, they differed in their choice of the third contributing factor. ASEAN CEOs ranked talent shortage higher than Global CEOs. Talent shortage ranks higher in the growth markets of ASEAN, India and Brazil, as they continue to experience rapid development, thus resulting in competition for scarce and skilled resources.
Global and ASEAN CEOs are looking to get closer to their customers as part of their focus to realize their strategy in the new economic environment. They intend to understand customer needs better by leveraging insight and intelligence. ASEAN CEOs placed a higher importance on understanding customer expectations in the area of new products, services and channels. ASEAN CEOs identified people skills as their top dimension to focus on over the next five years.
Both Global and ASEAN CEOs agreed on the need to foster creativity in their organization, especially using this creativity in their dealings with customers, partners and employees. This was named as the most important quality in this segment. ASEAN CEOs placed more emphasis on sustainability as compared to Global CEOs, making it the second most important leadership quality for CEOs in this region. This is explained as a concern for the environment and social issues. ASEAN CEOs are keen to utilize resources optimally, thus promoting a more sustainable environment. Both Global and ASEAN CEOs also ranked integrity as a key leadership quality.
About the IBM 2010 Global CEO Study
This study is the fourth edition of IBM’s biennial Global CEO Study series. To better understand the challenges and goals of today’s CEOs, IBM consultants met face-to-face with the largest-known sample of these executives. Between September 2009 and January 2010, IBM interviewed 1,541 CEOs, general managers, and senior public sector leaders who represent different sizes of organizations in 60 countries and 33 industries.
For access to the full study findings and case studies, please visit: http://www.ibm.com/ceostudy
