2024 Alix Partners Disruption Index Reveals CEO Concerns
Among the biggest worries for today’s business leaders are high interest rates and inflation, China-US tensions and the impact of the upcoming US election, the 2024 annual Disruption Index from Global consulting firm, Alix Partners reveals.
The 2024 Disruption Index is the company’s fifth, and is based on a survey of 3,100 senior executives around the world.
It shows that workforce and supply chain pressures are tailing off, with 69% expecting the same or lower-levels of supply chain disruption
Other headline findings from the Index include:
- 41% of business leaders report inflation and interest rates as a threat
- 66% of CEOs worry about the impact of the 2024 US presidential election on their business
- 68% of CEOs report US-China tensions are causing them to adjust their strategy
- Business leaders feel pressure to take a stand on environmental issues from government (68%), investors (64%), customers (58%) and employees (57%)
- Generative AI is cited by 67% of business leaders as the biggest disruptive opportunity
The Index confirms that businesses are adapting business models to cope with the seemingly endless succession market shocks, such as supply chain shortages and war, as well as economic headwinds, such as inflation and high inflation rates.
More than half (53%) say they expect to moderately alter their business model in 2024 to mitigate the effects of disruption, while 37% say they will make drastic changes. Just 9% plan no changes at all.
Disruption the new economic driver - Alix Partners
Alix Partners CEO Simon Freakley said: “It cannot be repeated often enough: disruption is the new economic driver. Winners in this new age will be those who are prepared to meet its challenges and seize its opportunities.
Freakley adds that the leading companies are “managing to find the right balance” and are showing that “you can aggressively explore greater efficiency and productivity, while improving customer sales and retention, and growing margins”.
He adds that such companies are much more likely to be:
- Investing heavily in technology and data-driven decisions
- Embracing the opportunity of new business models
- Training and promoting their employees
“More than anything, they are prioritising action,” says Freakley. “Leaders in these companies cite execution and follow-through as the most critical traits needed to respond to disruption.”
He adds: “We live in a world of constant and accelerating change. The unknown and unexpected have become routine. Lightning-fast crises – be they a supply chain disruption, an extreme weather event, or an outbreak of war – meld with longer-term secular changes that are rapidly reaching a tipping point, from technological innovations, to a transforming climate, ageing populations, and a fracturing world order.”
