Rapid Technological Change Is The Biggest Threat To

Global Business

Nick Morrison- Contributor

Feb 9 2017

It may seem as though the world is in meltdown, but it’s not Donald Trump that’s the biggest threat
to business, or Brexit, or even global warming. Instead, changes in technology represent the main
challenge facing tomorrow’s business leaders, according to a new survey.

Despite the uncertainty following Trumps election, and the U.K.'s decision to leave the EU,
graduates ranked technological advancement as the biggest challenge facing global business
leaders. The findings emphasize the key role that technological and digital change should play in a
business school education, equipping students with the skills they will need in the global
marketplace. And the belief in the importance of technological mastery saw Tesla and SpaceX
founder Elon Musk ranked as the world’s most effective business leader.

The rapid rate of technological and digital advance was the biggest challenge for global business
leaders according to the survey, which questioned recent graduates from the CEMS Masters in
International Management program. It was chosen as a major challenge by 68% of respondents,
compared with 60% who cited shifts in economic and political power and 59% who named climate
change as among the biggest threats.

The graduates are all alumni from one of 30 top international business schools, members of the
CEMS alliance between academic institutions and multinational corporations (formerly the
Community of European Management Schools and International Companies). "It’s clear that
keeping up with the rate of digital advancement - for example automation, harnessing big data,
emerging technologies and cyber security - will pose significant challenges for future leaders,
including our own graduates, and will add a whole new layer of complexity as they try to stay
ahead of competitors and innovate," said Roland Siegers, CEMS executive director. The challenge
for business schools is to ensure that their programs prepare graduates to deal with these
challenges, he said.

"The focus for our international education is to ensure that future leaders can use technological,
economic and political change to their advantage, to lead effectively, and importantly look beyond
profit maximisation towards creating long-term value for an inter-connected society," he added.
The approach to technological change among future business leaders was also evident in the
selection of Elon Musk as the world’s most effective business leader, attracting 24% of the vote,
ahead of Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson on 10%, in the survey of 348 CEMS graduates, most aged
24-27. "Our graduates regard the most effective business leaders in the world to be technology
innovators - figures who are successful because they are able to harness rapid technological
change and use it for social good, rather than seeing it as a hurdle," Siegers added.

"The consumer and retail industry will change more over the next 20 years than over the last 200
years. We have never lived in such exciting times. It is at times like these that we will recognize the
true leaders and innovators."