Six seismic shifts CEOs must address
We are delighted to bring you the new digital economy report produced by Oxford and sponsored in part by PwC.
1. Global digital economy comes of age
“The internet is triggering a third wave of capitalism that will transform business and government and lead to extraordinary wealth creation.”
John Sviokla, Partner, Strategy & Innovation
While the digital economy has been operating for several decades—few companies today operate without an e-commerce platform—our survey identifies four key technologies that are now bringing it into adulthood:
- mobility
- cloud computing
- business intelligence and
- social media
2. Industries undergo digital transformation
The virtuous circle is not just restructuring the world economy; it is leading to a new phase of industrial transformation. Indeed, to compete on the global stage, and reap the benefits of the digital marketplace, executives agree that industries will continue to see sweeping changes over the next five years.
The report details how the digital marketplace will affect three key industries:
- Media, entertainment and publishing;
- banking; and
- life sciences & healthcare.
3. The digital divide reverses
Across almost all measured indicators, our survey reveals that firms in emerging markets are more willing to adopt digital technologies than their counterparts in industrial nations.
What might such disparities look like?
- Two-thirds of executives in emerging markets believe that mobile devices will become the standard for web applications over the next five years, compared with only one-half of execs in advanced economies.
- Two-thirds of emerging market executives expect businesses to embrace social media and networking; just one-third of their industrial-market counterparts share this view.
4. Emerging-market customer takes centre stage
Cash-rich from rapid growth and largely free of debt, many emerging markets are poised to become economic powerhouses. By 2020, the E7 will hold a greater share of world GDP than the G7, and a new tier of emerging markets will take off in their slipstream.
Global GDP growth5. Business shifts into hyperdrive
Fifty-seven percent of respondents believe that business intelligence will be important to react in real time to market events, yet over one-third of companies still do not have the proper business intelligence tools to do so.
6. Firms reorganise to embrace the digital economy
market-like approach
To operate in a fast-changing marketplace, where new rivals are unencumbered by rigid policies and thinking, astute Western firms are moving away from strict hierarchical decision-making and closer to a network structure that is more market-like and organic, not unlike the internet itself.
