埃森哲：疫情使欧洲处于竞争的十字路口(英文 34 页)

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在2008年经济下滑之后，欧洲很难把握机会来改变。如今，它需要大胆的领导才能—开发创新的方法来获得新的客户价值并制定长期竞争和增长的战略。

我们认为，欧洲及其领先企业具有独特的优势。是时候利用这些优势了。好消息是欧洲商界领袖对此表示赞同。

根据我们对478位C级高管的全球调查和广泛的客户经验，我们研究了欧洲需要关注的六个关键业务变革领域，以缩小与北美和亚太地区的竞争力差距。

到2020年，这是一个艰难的开始。现在是时候专注于更新和重生了。

IN BRIEF

Competitiveness as a challenge for European business is not new. It did not suddenly arrive with the coronavirus. A 2014 paper published by the World Economic Forum, for example, pointed both to Europe’s relative strengths and weaknesses in comparison with American and Chinese competitors.1 That paper aimed at change by 2020. We have arrived at that date, and the need for action is, to understate the case, even more urgent.

Solutions are not immediately obvious. Business leaders  everywhere are under enormous pressure due to the pandemic just to guide their companies through the day, the week, the month. The future looks cloudy, if not opaque. As Unilever CEO Alan Jope recently put it, “There is no such thing yet as a new normal. Nobody has the faintest idea of what the new normal looks like.”2

In this state of uncertainty, the biggest risk is that European business leaders will be tempted to stay on defense for too long. They won’t just conserve cash in 

the short run; they’ll underinvest for growth in the long run. They won’t give up on R&D—but neither will they push for bold, game-changing innovations.

In addition, as economies reopen, there is continued uncertainty about the shape of the recovery—which will vary widely by industry—and to what degree government stimulus will shore up the business environment. This too may be an impediment to daring action.

Europe was slow to capitalise on the opportunity to change after the 2008 downturn. Today, it needs bold leadership—to develop innovative approaches to new customer value and to create a strategy for long-term competitiveness and growth.

We believe Europe—and its leading businesses—have unique strengths. It’s time to build on those strengths. The good news is that European business leaders agree.

Drawing on our global survey of 478 C-level executives and extensive client experience, we examine six critical areas of business change that Europe needs to focus on to close the competitiveness gap with North America and Asia Pacific.

It’s been a difficult start to 2020. Now is the time to focus on renewal and rebirth.