At the same time, there are multiple challenges involved with using technologies for greater sustainability. One is a lack of strategic guidance about where to invest time and money. Another is a lack of clarity as to the best type of technologies to harness.

Successful companies are meeting the needs of an increasingly sustainability-conscious consumer base and turning it into a competitive advantage. The report’s key findings are:

Sustainability is increasingly viewed as a way to increase profit. Besides doing good and contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), companies realise there is a market opportunity in being sustainable. Technology is increasingly important to boosting sustainability. Almost all survey respondents recognise the importance of technology. Certain industries are thriving as a result of this commercial opportunity. Several technology trends are expected to contribute. Currently led by big data and analytics, but increasingly expected to include artificial intelligence in the development of smart cities in particular. The potential benefits of technology are vast. A large majority of survey respondents expect a spending increase on technology over the long-term, which bodes well for companies and society alike.

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This is the second in a series of papers and articles from The Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by ANZ. This report, and the others to follow, is based on the results of a survey of more than 750 executives across eight markets.

This paper was written by Kim Andreasson and edited by Chris Clague. Findings from the survey were supplemented with research and in-depth interviews with experts and executives. Our thanks are due to the following people, listed alphabetically by affiliation:

Michael Cooke, Senior vice president, global HSE and sustainability Affairs, ABB Mikkel Flyverbom, Professor of communication and digital transformations, Copenhagen Business School Mark Milstein, Director of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University Alexa Dembek, Senior vice president, Chief technology & sustainability officer, DuPont  Tim O’Leary, Executive director, government and regional affairs & chief sustainability officer, Telstra

 

Executives surveyed for this report are optimistic. Of 660 executives we surveyed across eight countries and three industry groupings, fifty-three percent responded that technology will be “much more important” to economic growth five years from now and 42% responded that it will be ”more important.” Only 3.5% answered that the impact of technology would be “about the same” and less than 1% answered it would be “less important.”

Other findings from the research include:

Not surprisingly, the fourth sector surveyed, technology, was the most optimistic, with 61% of executives answering that tech would be “much more important.” At the market level, in Hong Kong just 31% of executives believe tech will be “much more important” in five years. On the other end of the spectrum was India, where 73% answered that tech will be “much more important.” Executives from larger firms, which we define for the purposes of this study as having annual revenue of A$200mn and above (roughly US$137mn at current exchange rates), were more positive on the importance of tech to economic growth than were executives at smaller firms. When asked what their primary considerations are for selecting a technology partner, the two most-popular answers among the six options provided were “the company reputation” and evidence of “ongoing development and investment in the technology and/or platform.” Both received 54% of responses.

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Tailored with technology: Economic growth is the third in a series of papers from The Economist Intelligence Unit sponsored by ANZ. This report is based on the results of a survey of more than 750 executives across eight markets.

This paper was written by Chris Clague. Findings from the survey were supplemented with research and in-depth interviews with experts and executives. Our thanks are due to the following people, listed alphabetically by surname:

Simon Evenett, professor of international trade and economic development, University of St Gallen Gog Soon Joo, chief futurist and chief skills officer, Skills Future Singapore Andrew Hoad, chief executive officer, Asia, DP World Ritesh Kumar, chief executive officer, Indonomics Consulting Jayant Menon, lead economist, Office of the chief economist and director general, Asian Development Bank Yasunori Mochizuki, fellow for IoT, robotics and smart cities, World Economic Forum

In today’s era of hyper-innovation and relentless competition, businesses around the world need to attract, engage and nurture individuals that embody a highly valued profile: the progress maker. Today this new breed of change agents has the capabilities to bring to their jobs a heightened global awareness, unprecedented digital empowerment and, increasingly, an innate motivation to do meaningful work with significant impact—both within their own organizations and in society at large. In growing numbers, they are ushering in a global culture of progress making them central to core business strategy at forward-thinking companies.

A new global study conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), in partnership with Citi, sheds light on this business trend and the role progress makers play in shaping its trajectory across industries and around the world. In January 2014, we surveyed 1,315 executives from organizations in a dozen industrial sectors worldwide about progress makers and organizational attitudes toward these key individuals. Twenty-five in-depth interviews were also conducted with experts, corporate decision makers and notable change agents in every world region.

The study shows that executives value progress makers as exceptionally strong contributors to organizational performance in a fast-changing digital, global and urban world. Companies are also being encouraged by customers, employees, investors and other stakeholders to incorporate progress makers’ increasingly integral social values into their corporate cultures. The growing influence of women and a new generation of millennials is also heightening this demand and making it a higher priority than ever for recruitment.

“Companies should cultivate an attitude of studying the emerging future, rather than studying the past,” says Ben Powell, CEO of Agora Partnerships, an investment firm that supports socially responsible businesses in emerging markets. “This is a time of incredible, accelerating change.”