The Latin American Company Of The Future.

Andersen released a survey of CEOs from the top 250 companies across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and Peru pinpointing breakthrough business and management ideas that are building the Latin American company of the future.

According to Latin American executives, the new economic business landscape in the region can best be described by five overriding environmental factors:

— Increasing sources of global competition
— Impact of new and emerging technologies
— Formation of new business alliances and partnerships
— Increasing competition for qualified labor and talent
— Increasing power of customers

“The Latin American business landscape has been transformed by the freedom of knowledge and information. It has introduced new global competitors to established local markets, as industries are deregulated, monopolies are broken down and competition is welcomed with open arms,” said Edgardo Pappacena, Managing Partner for Andersen in Latin America. “New technologies have radically altered internal processes whilst simultaneously presenting new business opportunities — and their associated risks. Strategic relationships have changed the way in which companies traditionally viewed their partners and rivals. The competition for qualified and experienced talent is keener than ever. And customers now play an active role in a company’s development.”

Latin American CEOs have defined four new “rules of the game” required to compete in this changing business landscape:

— Businesses are their assets, all of their assets — tangible and intangible
— New business models create new risks
— New processes and tools are needed to succeed
— Transparency of information is vital to value creation

Latin American CEOs are particularly concerned about the ability of top-down hierarchical management models and their ability to respond to frequent and unpredictable changes in the marketplace. Today, 91% of CEOs favor building organizations that adapt to changing market needs, while 89% of CEOs want agile decision-making structures that provide timely and reliable information to empower those individuals most exposed to market realities.

Latin American CEOs agree that the first priority for creating value in the value chain is through developing effective relationships with business partners. Integrating a number of business partners to take advantage of everyone’s assets is fundamental to creating network systems that operate efficiently and effectively. This networking extends into the implementation of effective logistics and supply-chain management, and the survey highlights the potential for e-business and new technologies as tools to link companies with its partners, suppliers and customers.

And 88% of the CEOs say that effective customer relationship management practices are very important, or absolutely critical, to their operations. Establishing these systems is the first step; but the survey shows that the paradigm shift will occur in one-to-one relationships, where every interaction with a customer must improve the company’s ability to fit its products or services to that customer’s needs.

“Many Latin American CEOs are proactive in preparing their companies for these opportunities and challenges, and the lessons they impart in this survey provide a clear path for others to follow,” said Pappacena. “In the new economic environment, time is of the essence, and the time for action is now.”

The report is available at http://www.andersen.com .