80% of Global Top Performing Companies Collaborate with Competitors: TCS Study
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting, and business solutions organisation, published its global study titled ‘Where, How and What Leaders Will Compete With in the New Decade: Findings from the TCS 2021 Global Leadership Study’, based on a survey of 1,200 CEOs and senior executives. The study reveals a sharp divide in the digital strategies of better performing companies (Leaders) versus the laggards (Followers), including unexpected insights such as: 80% of Leaders are more willing to collaborate with competitors compared to Followers (23%).
Brought out by the TCS Thought Leadership Institute—which conducts primary research to help organisations transform for long-term, sustainable growth—the study examines how large global enterprises have recalibrated their competitive strategies through 2025, following the pandemic. Specifically, it explores how management teams across the world are striking a balance between innovation and optimisation in four areas—digital strategies, digital offerings, digital ways of conducting business, and leadership approaches.
“Senior executives are always challenged to lead their organisations forward to be more competitive, and increasing digitisation only accelerates that momentum,” said Krishnan Ramanujam, Business Group Head, Business & Technology Services, TCS. “This study captures the pulse of global business leaders and their nearly ubiquitous belief that massive digital opportunities abound in the next five years—and their company culture must embrace an innovation mindset. At TCS we use our 3-Horizon Purpose-Led Transformation framework to help organisations embrace innovation in a way that helps them compete more effectively.”
Key findings of the study include:
- Innovation was ranked as the most important aspect of organisation culture, followed by Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunity (#2), Quality Orientation (#3), and Customer-Centricity (#4).
- Leaders ranked Customer-Centricity as the top cultural priority, above Shareholder Value, while Followers ranked it number 6, indicating that higher-performing companies embed a ‘customer first’ mindset across the organisation.
- By 2025, respondents believe 41% of their revenue will come from new offerings. Within that, Leaders expect 44% revenue from new offerings, while Followers expect 40%.
- The respondents projected that by 2025, 46% of their revenue will come from purely digital products or services. Leaders expect it to be even higher – 56%.
- When asked where they need to more effectively use data, respondents ranked Digital Marketing Campaigns first, followed by Sales Initiatives and Customer Service, suggesting that their companies need to improve the way customer data is used to create demand and improve customer experience.
The report also offers data-based recommendations to help shape the strategy of forward-thinking executives on how to take their organisations to higher performance.
Specifically, in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) the survey revealed the following:
- There’s an opportunity for organisations to boost revenue with subscription models. Only 18% of ANZ revenues come from subscriptions, compared to 25% for all surveys.
- Senior leaders are confident in their offerings and optimistic in their industries. ANZ respondents expect 62% of future revenues to come from industries or ecosystems in which they currently operate, compared to 55% among all surveys.
- Senior leaders are increasingly aware of growing competition from outside their category. Although ANZ firms tend to assess threats only from within their industry, 69% believe their biggest competitor will come from elsewhere.
- Sustainability was ranked at the most important aspect of organisation culture for senior leaders. ANZ respondents agree that innovation and being quality driven are vital cultural attributes.
“This survey shows that while innovation remains a key priority for Australian and New Zealand senior business leaders, there is a tendency to look internally for innovation opportunities. With the rapid shifts we’re witnessing across industry, sectors and businesses, there is an opportunity for local business leaders to leverage the approach many other markets are taking by engaging in partnership, collaboration and cross-industry ecosystems,“ said Vikram Singh, ANZ Country Head at TCS.
“With this in mind, ANZ business leaders need to be looking broadly at how they can leverage the available technologies to drive organisational strategies and better service the needs of their employees and their customers,” said Singh.
TCS’ 2021 Global Leadership Study surveyed more than 1,200 CEOs and senior executives from a range of industries including (but not limited to) retail, manufacturing, insurance, banking and financial, healthcare and more, from four regions across the globe—North America (US, Canada); UK, Europe (Germany, Netherlands, France); APAC (India, Singapore, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan); and LATAM (Colombia, Brazil, Mexico). Respondents’ companies had annual revenues over $1B, with an average revenue of $14B.
To view the full report and receive more information, visit www.tcs.com/perspectives/ceo
About Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that has been partnering with many of the world’s largest businesses in their transformation journeys for over 50 years. TCS offers a consulting-led, cognitive powered, integrated portfolio of business, technology and engineering services and solutions. This is delivered through its unique Location Independent Agile™ delivery model, recognized as a benchmark of excellence in software development.
A part of the Tata group, India's largest multinational business group, TCS has over 488,000 of the world’s best-trained consultants in 46 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $22.2 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, and is listed on the BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) and the NSE (National Stock Exchange) in India. TCS' proactive stance on climate change and award-winning work with communities across the world have earned it a place in leading sustainability indices such as the MSCI Global Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Emerging Index. For more information, visit www.tcs.com.
About TCS Thought Leadership Institute
The TCS Thought Leadership Institute seeks to lead conversations about advancing the purpose-driven enterprise across digital ecosystems. Through our primary research, we share forward-looking and practical insights around key business issues to help organizations transform for long-term, sustainable growth.
