KUALA LUMPUR: Human capital issues are the No.1 challenge keeping CEOs around the world awake, a survey by New York-based The Conference Board revealed, knocking out global concerns which used to feature high on the list in previous years.
The Conference Board executive vice-president and chief economist Dr Bart van Ark said five years after the Global Financial Crisis, CEOs have accepted the fact that global issues like politics and economics are beyond their control.
Instead, they have “decided to focus on internal issues which they can control in order to move ahead,” said van Ark at the launch of the CEO Challenge 2014.
A total of 1,020 CEOs were interviewed, of which 478 were from Asia. Of these, 180 were from Asean. The survey was conducted between September and November last year and updated last month.
The Conference Board is a non-profit organisation which provides big-picture insights within and across three areas, namely corporate leadership, economy and business environment and human capital.
Its objective is to help senior executives make strategic decisions. It has been conducting this survey on challenges facing CEOs for the last 13 years.
“This concern about human capital and other internal issues mean that companies are getting ready for growth although growth may be slow,” van Ark said.
He said Asean CEOs are concerned about human capital, followed by customer relationships, innovation, operational excellence and corporate brand as well as reputation.
The top five concerns among Malaysian CEOs in order of importance are retaining critical talent and improving management process and accountability, company growth sustainability, operational excellence, government regulation and corporate brand and reputation.
Van Ark said innovation was ranked 7th which showed complacency on the part of Malaysian CEOs.
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