- Global Executives See Uncertainty as Growth Opportunity
Eighty-nine per cent of global executives see growth opportunities from today’s uncertainty, a new survey has revealed.
The EY Growth Barometer stated that technology disruption and lack of skilled talent outweigh uncertainty as greatest concerns for global executives.
The findings were further discussed by prominent entrepreneurs, government officials, business leaders and others, who convened in Monaco last week for the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 event, where the President/Chief Executive Officer of Saskatchewan-based AGT Food and Ingredients Inc., Murad Al-Katib, emerged EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2017.
The EY Global Growth Markets Leader, Annette Kimmitt, said, “The global economic backdrop is much stronger than what the prevailing narrative has been telling us.
“Despite geopolitical risks and uncertainties, businesses being disrupted through new technologies and globalisation rewriting the rules of supply and demand, middle market leaders are not only attuned to uncertainty, but are seizing it to grow, disrupt other markets and drive their growth agendas.”
The EY said despite facing two years of Brexit negotiations, start-ups (companies under five years old) headquartered in the United Kingdom were displaying the highest levels of confidence of the countries surveyed.
It stated, “Executives identified technology and talent, not only as the top two challenges facing the middle market C-suite today, but they are also seen as the tools by which they will overcome challenges and remain agile.”
“Talent (23 per cent) is cited as the top priority ahead of improved operations (21 per cent), cutting red tape (12 per cent) and beneficial agreements (eight per cent) in a ranking of what is critical to meeting current growth ambitions.”
According to the report, 93 per cent of executives see technology as a means of attracting the talent they need, with new developments in artificial intelligence improving the recruitment and selection process for innovative start-ups to find specialist talent.
It said to fuel the growth ambitions of their organisations, more than a quarter (27 per cent) of middle market executives planned to increase their permanent headcount and a further 14 per cent planned to increase the number of part-time staff.
Kimmitt said, “Middle market companies are the engines for global growth, representing nearly 99 per cent of all enterprise and contributing nearly 45 per cent to the global GDP. But high-growth entrepreneurs are not only more ambitious in setting growth targets, but prioritise differently from other mid-market leaders and businesses.
“High-growth entrepreneurs are not fazed by the kinds of seismic shocks that Brexit and other geopolitical upheavals present. They are developing agile and flexible strategies to work with uncertainty as the new normal.”
