The CEOs’ new agenda

The CEO Club, which was established by Capital and Ekonomist magazines, has realized its first project. The name of this project, which is being realized in Turkey for the first time, is the “CEO Profile 2006”… The study profiles the leaders who shape the Turkish business world, reveals their views on the near and distant future and offers companies some important insights. It clarifies a number of issues, from the leaders’ strategic decisions to companies’ priorities, risk assessments and opportunities.

What is on the agenda of Turkish CEOs? To which subjects do they give priority? On which areas do their companies focus? Are they interested in the threat from China, like everyone else in the world, or do they give greater importance to issues such as Iran and Iraq?

The results of the survey conducted by Capital magazine entitled “CEO Profile 2006” reveals the answers to these and many other questions. The survey which, in a way, provides an agenda for the Turkish business world in 2006 also contains important messages for companies and executives from every sector.

How was the survey conducted?
The ‘CEO Profile 2006” was conducted with support from Cisco Systems Türkiye amongst the members of the CEO Club, which was established for the first time in Turkey. For this reason we should first provide some information about the organization. The CEO Club, which was established by Capital and Ekonomist magazines, was launched towards the end of 2005. It had 170 members as of the end of February 2006.

The CEO Club members are drawn from the presidents, CEOs, general managers and board members of the companies on the Capital 500 and Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI) 500 lists and from the general managers of banks, insurance, leasing and factoring companies. In addition, general managers and CEOs of the leading 10 brokerage firms in Turkey are also eligible.

The CEO Profile 2006 Survey is the first project realized by this important organization and was in response to requests coming from its members. The survey was conducted by members being sent questionnaires over the Internet, which they were then asked to complete them. 109 of the 170 members completed the survey forms. The main messages coming from this extensive questionnaire completed by a significant number of respondents are as follows:

The new profile of CEOs
- 24.2 percent of the companies of the CEOs who participated in the survey had a turnover of $50-100 million. 16.2 percent of them worked in companies with a turnover of $1-3 billion.

- The owners mainly preferred executives with a background in marketing. The results showed that 61.9 percent of the CEOs had a background in sales and marketing. Those with a background in finance ranked second.

- From the perspective of the leaders, an important finding of the survey was how many years the CEOs had waited before assuming their posts… The survey showed that CEOs waited at least 10 years before being appointed. The largest proportion, 27.9 percent, had waited 10-14 years. Only 5.9 percent of the respondents were appointed CEO within 4-9 years.

- The CEOs devote an increasingly large proportion of their time to hobbies. This was clearly demonstrated by the survey which showed that 88.2 percent of those questioned said that they allocated time outside work to their hobbies.

- The most eagerly awaited response was to the question “Which team do you support?” 37.1 percent replied that they supported Galatasaray and 33.9 percent Fenerbahçe.

The business world through their eyes
- The responses to the question “How do you see the next year in your business?” suggested that most were optimistic because 67.6 percent said “good” and 16.2 percent said “very good”.

- The CEOs think that the sector that will come to the fore over the next year will be banking, followed by energy, financial services and telecommunications. Information technology, agriculture, electronics and packaging occupied the lower ranks.

- The CEOs saw China as the greatest future threat to Turkey, followed by Iran, Iraq and the USA.

- In addition to threats, the CEOs also saw some countries as opportunities. They were led by Russia, the European Union and Romania.

- The CEOs were asked about global risks. The replies they gave showed that they saw the most important risk as a “war in the region”.

- In response to the question as to which factors will change the world over the next three years, the most common answer given by the CEOs was “technological changes”. This was followed by “increasing competition” and a “new US military intervention”.

TANJU’DA
THE LIST OF PRIORITIES OF THOSE AT THE TOP
In the short term are you planning to take any measures to increase efficiency, productivity or performance?
Measure Rate (%)
Outsourcing   37
Company mergers   15
Reduction in workforce   8
Investment in personnel 7
Improving processes 5
Innovative-creative strategies 4
Investments in technology and information 4
Cutting back on investments 3
More efficient production 3
Merger of group companies 2
Others 12

CEO’S STRATEGIC PRIORITY LIST
Which will be your company’s three most important strategic priorities over the next year?
 
Increasing innovation   22,7
Operational efficiency   19,1
Reducing costs   16,5
Increasing customer satisfaction   14,9
Speeding up product/service provision   11,3
Global operations   7,7
Setting prices   2,6
Profitability 1,5
Investment in personnel   1
Growth 1

THREE GLOBAL RISKS
Which are the three most important global risks for your company?

War in the region   22,1
Instability   9,7
Increasing competition 9,7
Rise in interest rates 7,1
Foreign exchange rates   6,2
China 6,2
Natural disasters 5,3
Global instability   4,4
Labour costs 4,4
Weakening of the EU   4,4
Competition from global companies 3,5
Global instability   2,7
Price competition  2,7
Increase in energy prices  2,7
Economic instability  2,7
Current account deficit 2,7
Excess 2,7
Multinationals establishing themselves in Turkey   0,9