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A cross-section of chief executives in a variety of industries agrees on two priorities: Focus on growth is paramount these days, while investor relations is the least of their concerns.
That's a big takeaway from a new survey published by the Conference Board, a New York-based global nonprofit business research group.
The survey, which asked 704 CEOs worldwide to rank a list of pre-determined priorities 1-10, also revealed an interesting, albeit predictable nugget when it comes to regulation. On that score, the concern that looms largest over CEOs in the United States, past the general concept of business growth, is government regulation.
Indeed, American CEOs, the report states, view the “growing degree of regulation as both an obstruction for growth and an incentive to force innovation and create opportunity.”
In Europe, meanwhile, the cost of optimization is the second-biggest priority behind growth, according to the report. And the second-biggest priority in Asia is attracting, retaining and rewarding talent, the survey states.
“In the 2010 survey, it was clear that the focus of CEOs had moved from crisis reaction to preparations for recovery,” says Conference Board Chief Economist Bart van Ark in a statement. “This year, we see an even further concern for driving business growth after years of scaling back and, in some cases, focusing on survival during the global recession.”
Finally, the survey results don't bode well for business consultants and anyone else who pushes concepts like sustainability and customer relationships. Sustainability was the eighth most important priority out of 10 in a composite tally of all the results, behind only international expansion and investor relations. Customer relationships ranked seventh.
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