4 in 5 top firms work with rivals

Image by Hassan Pasha

Among global companies, 80% of better performing ones or Leaders are more willing to collaborate with competitors compared to laggards or Followers (23%), according to the Tata  Consulting Services.

TCS’ 2021 Global Leadership Study surveyed more than 1,200 CEOs and senior executives from four regions across the globe—North America; the United Kingdom and Europe; Asia Pacific including Singapore; and Latin America. Respondents’ companies had an average annual revenue of $14 billion. 

Findings show that  Innovation was ranked as the most important aspect of organisation culture, followed by Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunity; Quality Orientation and;  Customer-Centricity.

By 2025, respondents believe 41% of their revenue will come from new offerings. Within that, Leaders expect 44% revenue from new offerings, while Followers expect 40%.

The respondents projected that by 2025, 46% of their revenue will come from purely digital products or services. Leaders expect it to be even higher at 56%.

When asked where they need to more effectively use data, Leaders ranked Digital Marketing Campaigns first followed by Sales Initiatives and Customer Service. This suggests that their companies need to improve the way customer data is used to create demand and improve customer experience.

In APAC, outdated strategic planning still dominates in markets in the region, with less than 40% of the respondents said their firms consider cross-industry “digital ecosystems” when evaluating future business opportunities —  including Singapore (37%), compared to 45% in the survey globally. More than half of the firms plan using the outdated framework of their historical industry boundaries.

Although firms in APAC tend to assess threats only from within their industry, more than 60% believe their biggest competitor will come from elsewhere, including other industries, digital companies and startups.

APAC respondents expect more than half of the future revenues to come from businesses in which the firms operate today, including Australia/New Zealand (68%), India and Japan (65%), and China (53%). This could suggest either confidence in their offerings or excessive optimism.

The subscription-based revenue models in selected markets in APAC are showing an upward trend to 2025. Singaporean respondents believe the subscription-based revenue will increase from 25% in 2021 to 34% in 2025, and the figures correspond with the upward trend globally (25% in 2021 to 31% in 2025).