The Enterprise of the Future... in the automotive industry

In the IBM Global CEO Study, "The Enterprise of the Future," we spoke with 1,130 business and public sector leaders worldwide to understand their perspectives on strategic issues such as new and changing customers, global integration and business model innovation. In this edition, we examine more closely the responses from Automotive CEOs and the implications for this industry.

HUNGRY FOR CHANGE

Automotive CEOs anticipate more change over the next three years than most CEOs, but they also report less past success managing it. Across all the industries we studied, automotive has one of the highest "change gaps" – 88 percent of CEOs expect substantial change, but only 54 percent have successful track records of change, leaving a 34 percent shortfall. Financial outperformers, however, have a much smaller change gap (29 percent) than the industry's underperformers (46 percent). Although both groups see significant turbulence ahead, outperformers are far more successful at managing such change.

Implications: Automotive Enterprises of the Future are change masters – organizations that recognize the change management process as a “must have” strategic capability. They identify change agents and visionary challengers, insert them in key business units and functions, and give them freedom to maneuver. These companies have the process speed and flexibility to exploit viable ideas quickly. They use technology as a change enabler for their businesses, not just in their products.

To read the full report, download the PDF file at the top of this page.