CEOs clash with investors over growth strategy

EY survey highlights gap between expectations, readiness

CEOs clash with investors over growth strategy
Steve Randall
There’s a significant gap between the expectations of investors and business leaders concerning readiness to exploit growth opportunities.

A new report from EY highlights the need for companies to operate a dual strategy; their current business model, and disruptive new models. And for investors, this is a priority even if it’s risky.

Two thirds of institutional investors said they want companies to undertake potentially risky disruptive innovations for long-term benefits but only half of company CEOs said that they are well prepared to take advantage of the opportunity.

“Innovation is a challenge that often becomes more difficult with success, as growing and larger companies find themselves faced with more short-term concerns,” commented EY global chairman and CEO Mark Weinberger.

“In today’s accelerated digital economy, CEOs must strike the right balance by delivering on current business plans while strategically disrupting existing offerings in order to ignite the next phase of growth. Technology may be the cause of many challenges today — but if we approach it right, it’s also the solution,” added Weinberger.

The survey is based on 101 global 5000 CEOs and 100 global institutional investors with at least U$1 billion assets under management.

It found that just 54% of CEOs were the ‘owner’ of their firm’s disruption agenda; and less than half (43%) said their company culture was good or very good for investing in exploratory, long-term ROI projects.

Weakness was also highlighted in the availability of internal risk capital and in investment in innovative startups.

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