What do CEOs really think of HR?

What do CEOs really think of HR?

Asked to rate the performance of various areas of their business,
respondents to the Economist Intelligence Unit's latest annual CEOBriefing
survey gave HR an emphatic thumbs-down. Alone of the functions under review,
more people rated the performance of HR bad (6%) than excellent (4%). No
other function - not even the notoriously unlovable IT department - came
close to being this unappreciated.

The 555 senior executives from 68 countries were asked to choose which three
business functions will be most important to realizing corporate strategy
over the next three years: HR received only 16% of the votes, with sales and
marketing rated at 56%.

Senior executives worldwide predict that their organizations will prioritize
international markets over domestic ones in the next three years. They
identified the importance of globalization to their strategic growth plans,
with respondents expecting the proportion of revenue coming from overseas
markets to jump by an average of one-third over the next three years.

Acquiring new customers is seen as the most important strategy for achieving
revenue growth (58% of respondents). Increasing market share (53%) and
growing revenue (50%) outstrip lowering the cost base as strategic
priorities for executives.

Almost nine out of ten respondents regard the prospects for business
globally as either good or very good, a marked increase on previous years.
One paradox of globalization is that it increases the value of local
knowledge. Understanding the needs of local customers in the different
markets as customers’ tastes change and competition intensifies is the
biggest challenge that managers of global companies face, according to the
survey.

To download the CEO Briefing report free of charge, visit
http://www.eiu.com/CorporatePriorities2006