The EIU (Economics Intelligent Unit) report predicted how top business organisations would look by the year 2010. Based on the views of 350 CEOs from across the globe, • CEOs identified that new global competition and the accelerating rate of change would demand that organisations be much more flexible than in the past and do things better than ever before. A key focus for management teams will be understanding and developing their core competencies - i.e. doing the things at which they can excel, and doing them brilliantly
FUTURE MARKETING DIRECTIONS
The CEOs stated that, in this situation, the forces which drive competitive advantage will not be the traditional levers of product and service quality and reducing costs, but the ability to be excellent at something (core competencies), to manage relationships and to be flexible. • Skill sets demanded for successful executives include communication, decision making and managing relationships. CEOs seem to be much less impressed with technical skills. • Judging by the findings of this survey, marketers are primarily focused on developing their technical expertise and have much to learn in the people arena. If we accept the views of these CEOs this seems like the wrong thing to be doing. It is likely to lessen marketing's influence and effectiveness over the next ten years.