Fast changes: Execs weigh in on high-velocity business transformations
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 8/1/2006 6:00:00 AM
A global survey of executives by New York-based McKinsey underscores the price of freedom—of information, that is.
The survey, titled An Executive Take on the Top Business Trends, cites innovation and freer access to information as the key accelerators behind the higher rate of change in world business.
Of total respondents, 85 percent deem their business environments as more competitive than five years ago.
"The survey findings paint a picture of an increasingly competitive business world characterized by great opportunity and risk," states the report. Yet while managing that risk will be key to success, only three respondents in 10 say they've taken steps to prepare for disruptions such as "pandemic, natural disaster, or increased geopolitical instability [and] terrorism."
Variation in strategic planning approaches appears to be based on company size—e.g., companies with $1 billion+ in annual revenues tend to drive the process into deeper levels of the organization, and they embrace longer time horizons. C-level executives are more likely than other managers to perceive their long-term strategic planning processes as identifying the right issues and implementing the right plans to pursue them (74 percent versus 65 percent).
