Globalisation is inevitable, accelerating and positive say leading business executives

Globalisation is viewed by top executives at leading organisations around the world as an inevitable, but positive, business challenge that is here to stay and growing rapidly, according to an in-depth study of business leaders revealed by EquaTerra and World 50 today.

The findings also reveal that politically – led trade protectionism or a major economic downturn are seen by study participants as the only major threats to the continued growth of globalisation.

Yet, despite these perceived threats, 90 per cent of the 217 executives questioned viewed globalisation as inevitable, indicating that trade protectionism or an economic downturn will not ultimately stop, or even slow, globalisation’s expansion.

72 per cent agreed that it is likely to have a positive overall impact on their companies.

Over a third also saw increased globalisation as a challenge, but one that will be outweighed by opportunities such as the chance to expand into new markets, or to improve their company’s brand exposure and sales

The ‘EquaTerra Globalisation Study’, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of EquaTerra, a leading business advisory firm, and World 50, a knowledge sharing community for C-level executives, assessed in detail the perceptions of global competition and the challenges of expanding ones’ global footprint, according to over 200 leading executives and senior managers from the Americas, Western Europe and the Asia Pacific.

Regardless of the apparent overall optimism, 44 per cent of respondents also made clear that finding and retaining high-quality talent is their number one concern over the next three years.

This was true amongst study participants at all levels and across all geographic regions.

Notably, executives based in North America were 12 per cent more likely than their European counterparts to cite globalisation as making it more difficult to find and retain local staff with required skills and experience, highlighting current issues within the tight North American labour market.

While finding and retaining talent is still a big issue for those in Western Europe, their two primary challenges resulting from globalization are funding expansion into new markets followed by growth of competition.