CEO Monthly June 2017

CEO MONTHLY / JUNE 2017 9 , Frost & Sullivan’s Visionary Innovation team invites CEOs to share their views, opinions and best practices for transformational growth. Visionary CEOs Focus on Product-as-a-Service Business Models Intelligent data analytics, convergence, connectivity, and digital consumers are reshaping leadership strategies. Global CEOs and members of Frost & Sullivan’s Growth, Innovation and Leadership (GIL) community expect ongoing digitisation- driven disruption, collapse and transformation to be a harbinger of product-as-a-service (PaaS) business models. “CEOs must accelerate end- user focused, innovation-driven product and service planning. New business models, such as PaaS, create opportunities for innovative, service-oriented value propositions,” said Frost & Sullivan Global Vice President Sandeep Kar. “However, the disconnect between visionary growth scenarios and current strategies remains a cause for concern. Achieving congruence between vision and strategy will be a strategic necessity if organisations are to steer a course of growth amidst increasing competitive pressures.” This is a challenge that continues to dominate CEO concerns as evinced by last year’s survey, where over 50% of CEOs stated that they were unable to integrate disruptive new business models into their organisations. Other themes highlighted in the 2016 survey that are expected to ripple into this year include: • Intensifying competitive environment: 53% of CEOs cited it as the biggest external threat to growth due to their inability to adequately leverage competitive intelligence/corporate strategy teams. • Speed of technology change: Nearly 34% of CEOs indicated this as a challenge despite acknowledging that digital transformation will underpin growth, innovation, and leadership over the next 5 years. • Technology and partnership strategies: 48% of CEOs surveyed expected to rely on strategic partnerships to drive their organisation’s growth in the next three years. At the same time, over 50% indicated their inability to successfully execute either technology and intellectual property strategies or strategic partnerships. While global CEOs and business leaders overwhelmingly ranked revenue growth as their top growth objective for the 2016– 2021 period, most acknowledged that greater organisational clarity is required to effectively implement transformative growth strategies. Investing in the future has never been as critical, with digital transformation changing industries at break-neck speed across all verticals. Evolving ecosystems and operational realities require CEOs to accelerate adaptation strategies, better manage innovation, rethink traditional business models and value chains, and rapidly realign with changing stakeholder expectations. Which technology, mega trends and business models have the potential to disrupt organisations? How, where, and in whom will CEOs invest in the future? Frost & Sullivan’s 2017 Annual CEOs Voice on Growth, Innovation and Leadership aims to drive clarity in strategic decision making by delivering powerful and actionable insights from our global community of CEOs representing the widest array of industries and regions.