It’s a message that came through distinctly at Criticaleye’s recent Asia Leadership Retreat in Singapore, held in partnership with Accenture. When the gathered executive and independent non-executive directors were asked to identify where they would like to allocate resources to be more customer-centric, the overwhelming majority opted for ‘talent’, followed by ‘technology’, ‘leadership capability’ and ‘organisational structure’.
 

It’s evident that companies need to respond to the changing behaviours of customers and consumers. Matthew Blagg, CEO of Criticaleye, commented: “Customer behaviours are increasingly fluid and that creates a huge challenge for organisations, particularly the slower ones who choose to push the cost down in an inflationary environment. Not being alert to shifting customer dynamics often ends up adding significant additional pressure on businesses.”
 

He went on to note that a reappraisal is underway in regard to leadership capability. “Unless you're evolving fast, you are de-skilling because you’re not able to take advantage of changing market conditions,” he said. “As a simple observation, what you're seeing is a culling of senior leaders who aren’t able to adapt and show progression. They’re being removed and putting younger, hungrier talent in there.”

Anoop Sagoo, Chief Operating Officer for Asia Oceania at Accenture, told the audience: “When you reflect on the different macro and micro factors at play, running an organisation today and trying to differentiate and be competitive has never been so difficult.”
 

He explained how various factors, from macroeconomic and geopolitical to technology and new competitors, are forcing leadership teams to think differently. “Reinvention starts with the external, but it also has to come into the organisation and be pervasive,” he continued. “It feeds into how you run a business—the products and services that you go to market with and all aspects of your organisation.”

Anoop noted how “whatever it is you're doing, it has got to link into the business strategy”. He gave the example of Generative AI, stating that this feels to him like a different kind of technology. “It … seems to affect everything in a much faster and more pervasive way than we've seen previously,” he said. “This technology has to be inherently business led in the sense that the whole workforce must get to grips with it. In our company, right now, we're trying to train our whole workforce across the world in using it.”

 

Game Changers
 

Many companies in the region are closely examining cost structures and taking notice of the changing dynamics within their sectors. Some of this is about solving short-term problems or challenges, but it’s also about taking a longer-term view to set out the ambition for future growth. Alan Choi, SVP & CFO for APAC at PepsiCo, said: “We're looking very deeply at the consumer and competitive landscape, market by market, to identify where there are opportunities for more variety and diversification in our portfolio.
 

“The biggest trade-off at the moment for us is just the macro environment … Consumers are increasingly looking at value and are being more choiceful in their spending decisions.”
 

Even if a business is performing well, there’s no room for complacency. Marianthi Psaha, President and Head of EMEA for Santen Pharmaceutical, said: “Our business has achieved remarkable success, consistently delivering strong growth. In order to sustain and build on this momentum, we need to reflect on how we are structured and prepared for the future.”
 

The question of leadership capability and alignment through complex change were recurring themes. Alan explained to the audience: “There are only a few people that have end-to-end visibility about everything that's going on and the decisions that we're making across the region. Within this, there are two pieces of alignment to take into consideration: one is about how do we align with Head Office? And I think we're actually quite fortunate as a quite decentralised multinational.
 

“The other part to this is aligning the regional leadership team and the business and this is where I, together with the regional CEO, tend to spend more of my time.”
 

He emphasised the need for communication and collaboration to build consensus. “A couple of months ago we brought the leadership team together for an off-site where everyone had to come and present ideas around [how] to achieve our growth ambition, including ideas to grow the business in new categories. 

“We debated and discussed so as to align as a leadership team, which provides more ownership and accountability.”
 

During the Retreat, it was remarkable how many companies in the region and beyond were seeking to redefine their business models. Irrespective of sector, the need to align strategically and build accountability in the leadership team was seen as essential. As Marianthi said: “Success comes down to strong communication, alignment and shared responsibility. When the leadership team is aligned through meaningful conversations, that clarity and focus cascade throughout the entire organisation.”

 

Marc Barber, Director of Content, Criticaleye