Friso van der Oord is Director of Research and Editorial at NACD. This post is based on a NACD Survey.
Key Findings
- Public companies face a conundrum navigating two divergent business forces. Directors identify growing business-model disruptions (52%) and a slowing global economy (51%) as the top trends most likely to impact their organization over the next 12 months. While not contradictory, these divergent trends create a challenge for many companies: how to balance a growth and disruption mind-set to stave off competition with preparations for the impact of a potential recession.
- Public companies must also confront growing friction between the need to (digitally) innovate and the effective management of cyber risks. Sixty-one percent of directors report that they would be willing to compromise on cybersecurity to achieve business objectives, while 28 percent prioritize cybersecurity above all else.
- For most companies, current strategies will become irrelevant in the next five years. Sixty-eight percent of responding directors report that their company can no longer count on extending its historical strategy over the next five years. Future growth will likely depend on the adoption of a different business model and an entirely new set of assumptions about what success will look like.