I know, I am a bit late, but anyway, I forgot to talk about a study (pdf, 261KB) from the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored and published by Dimension Data. This study includes the findings of a global survey of 500 Senior Executives, which identifies the most important management challenges facing the world’s leaders.

CEO briefing at a glance

Conclusions about the future

1. Companies strive for growth in an uncertain environment.
2. Competition for offshoring intensifies.
3. China as opportunity, risk and competitive threat.
4. Technology: disrupting industries, organising business: for the first time since the dotcom crash, advances in technology are seen as the single most important driver of change.
5. Managing scarcity: specially oil and talents.
6. Governance goes global: Companies will continue to march towards their compliance deadlines, but there is also a greater emphasis on the broader aspects of governance.
7. Corporate agility as pre-requisite for survival: shifting from fixed cost-structures to the variable cost-structures associated with outsourcing

Strategic importance of technologies

Strategies for growth

Outsourcing strategies

Expected benefits from technology

Critical forces for change