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CEOs Report Competitive Environments Pose Largest External Challenge to Growth, According to Frost & Sullivan's Annual CEO Survey

Posted on: Monday, 12 October 2009, 06:30 CDT

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, is pleased to announce the results of its third annual CEO Survey, an evaluation of the thoughts and strategies of global industry leaders. The assessment presented questions on growth plans, organizational abilities, management development, external and internal corporate challenges, media perceptions, and corporate reputation to CEOs, Presidents, and Chairpersons across all industry categories in all regions.

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Consistent with last year's results, CEOs continue to report that growth is their top objective (60% of respondents). Vision strategy and innovation round out the top three growth objectives; conversely, employee satisfaction and shareholder satisfaction are the lowest growth objectives rated.

CEOs have varied ideas on how to achieve this coveted growth. The largest proportion of CEOs (45%) report the number one projected growth strategy is increasing sales. Rounding out the top three projected strategies are strategic partnering (40%) and product development (34%). Additionally, customer strategies and geographic expansion have also been utilized by nearly one third of CEOs (both 29%). For its second consecutive year, the least successful growth strategy appears to be growth outsourcing (5%).

"The numbers are clear," explains Tonya Fowler, Global Director with Frost & Sullivan's Customer Research Team. "Consistent with last years results, CEOs remain committed to growth and will utilize a combination of strategies to achieve this goal."

However, CEOs realize the need for a competent, experienced management team in place to carry out growth strategies. In the survey, slightly more CEOs report having a dedicated team for growth strategy compared to last year's results (up 2 percentage points to 40%). "As might be expected," continues Fowler, "CEOs are the most significant contributors for developing growth strategies compared to others within their organizations."

Economic downturns or a slowing economy often provide the most punishing environments in which to pursue growth strategies. Likely due to the economic recession, Frost & Sullivan finds that CEOs appear to be less confident in their organizations' ability to conduct core growth strategies. The largest decline was noted in launching new products (31%), down 22 points from 2008.

As a final point, given this year's economic climate, the most prominent external challenge to CEOs is the economic recession (65%), up 17 percentage points from 2008. All other external challenges appear to have become afterthoughts - becoming less important in just a short period of time.

This survey was conducted by Frost & Sullivan's Customer Research Team that performs independent, unbiased research among end-users to evaluate and measure companies and trends in the market. Specifically, the Customer Research Team surveys respondents that are deemed experts in the wide range of industries that Frost & Sullivan supports.

For more information, please send an e-mail to Jake Wengroff, Corporate Communications, at jake.wengroff@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company web site, city, state and country. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you by e-mail.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 35 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com.

Contact: Jake Wengroff 210.247.3806 jake.wengroff@frost.com

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan

Source: PR Newswire

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