IN BRIEF
• To maintain global competitiveness, European companies must master adopting and absorbing technology by building strong digital leadership.
• Embracing a technology-driven business transformation can help European companies potentially generate an additional revenue of US$3.2 trillion by the end of 2024.
• Managements with adequate technology quotient are likely to be more open to technology implementation.
Increasing leaders’ technology quotient is critical for European companies to adapt to a business landscape that is rapidly evolving, driven by technological advances. Embracing a higher technology quotient can help European companies unlock fresh opportunities for adaptability in the face of future challenges and pave a new and dynamic path towards a digital era.
There is no shortage of innovation and business in Europe today, as exemplified by pioneering companies such as Mercedes Benz in the automotive sector, Airbus in aerospace, AstraZeneca in pharmaceuticals, and L'Oréal in cosmetics. To maintain global competitiveness, European companies must master adopting and absorbing technology by building strong digital leadership, finds Accenture's latest report, “Innovate or Fade”.
European companies are thriving in productivity enhancement but falling behind their US peers in generating profitable growth. From 2018 to 2022, European companies saw a 10 per cent five-year average margin, placing them ahead of Asia Pacific's 7.5 per cent but behind North America at 12.5 per cent. Accenture's January 2023 report titled “Accelerating Europe's Path to Reinvention” posited that the key factor weighing down the growth prospects of average European businesses was inadequate adoption of technology, also called the “tech deficit”. Fewer than half of
