1. The CEO’s agenda
J.J. (Justin) van der Starre | G.J.J.B. (Gerben) van den Berg | D.S. (Douwe) Suesan
STRATEGY TRENDS 2016

2. STRATEGY TRENDS 2016 THE CEO’S AGENDA
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1 Strategic issues
Progress without too many risks - that is on every CEO’s wish list.
Could that be possible in the fast, disruptive reality of today?
And more importantly, how do you protect your good reputation
at the same time?Those questions are heard in most Dutch
boardrooms in 2016.That is what is keeping CEOs up at night.
Strategic issues
Figure 1.1 Which of the following topics are regularly adressed during board meetings?
Corporate Reputation
Innovation & Disruption
Risk Management
Margin Pressure
Digitalisation
Labour Market Flexibilisation
Sustainability/ CSR
Businessmodel
Labour Market
Rules and Regulations
Internationalisation
Alliance Building
Intellectual property
Financing
Developing Countries
Mergers & Acquisitions
74%
74%
59%
59%
58%
57%
57%
56%
52%
48%
48%
40%
38%
38%
25%
21%

3. 3
The most frequently discussed topics in
boardrooms of Dutch companies in 2016
are strategic issues such as and corpo-
rate reputation & image, disruption and
digitalisation, risk management, margin
pressure and flexibilisation. Corporate
reputation and image have been top 5
issues in our surveys for many years, and
have topped the agenda in the past two
years. Protecting their corporate reputa-
tion remains a priority for three quarters
of the organisations, in particular B2B
service providers and the financial sector.
Innovation and disruption are also hot
topics with a high place on the agenda in
many sectors.
Strategic issues
Figure 1.2 Which of the following topics are
regularly adressed during board
meetings? (top 5)
Corporate Reputation
Disruption & Digitalisation
Risk Management
Margin Pressure
Flexibilisation
Risk management has made a remarkable
shift up the agenda this year. The fact
that 59% of respondents indicates that
risk management is high on the agenda
says something about the risk awareness
within companies. The financial crisis has
made companies more careful. No more
‘rash moves’ are allowed to happen. Con-
trolled progress without too many risks
– that is on every CEO’s wish list. The
million dollar question is if this is actually
feasible in the quickly changing disrup-
tive reality. As in previous years, margin
pressure still plays a large role. Due to the
crisis, the prices have further decreased in
the past years, and many organisations are
having a hard time raising them again.
The fastest climber and new on top of the
agenda is the strategic issue of organisa-
tional flexibilisation. This issue is fre-
quently to constantly discussed during
the board meetings of 57% of the respon-
dents. Flexibilisation is closely related with
another key social theme: the increasing
rate of self-employed in the working
population. Remarkably, the business
model item has a lower position on the
agenda this year. From 2009, this strate-
gic issue was always in the top half of the
CEOs’ agendas - in second place last year.
It seems that after years of investing in
the business model, the companies have
‘cleaned up their act’. This is apparent
from the fact that 42% of respondents
indicate that financing is derived from
their internal cash flow in 2016. After
years of tinkering with the organisation,
the CEOs seem ‘tired of change’. Now that
the internal organisation is in order, they
start looking beyond their own walls again.

4. STRATEGY TRENDS 2016 THE CEO’S AGENDA
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Social topics
2
Organisations do not give social themes a key place when
determining their strategic policy. For example, sustainability is high
on the social agenda, but businesses do not see it as a key theme
on the strategic agenda. Although many CEOs indicate that they
expect mountains of gold abroad, the knowledge of and interest
in international business does not seem available at a very high
level. Issues such as geopolitical tensions and internationalisation
therefore do not have a very high place on the agenda.
Social topics
Figure 2.1 Which of the following social topics are regularly adressed during board meetings?
Sustainability
Digitalisation
Flexibilisation of the Labour Market
Cybersecurity
Cultural Diversity
Climate Change
Geopolitical Tensions
Urbanisation
EU Politics
Terrorism
The Refugee Crisis
60%
59%
34%
34%
26%
20%
19%
17%
17%
10%
9%

5. 5
This year, we reviewed the extent to which
certain social themes have permeated the
Dutch boardrooms. Sustainability and
digitalisation are seen as key social themes
by 60% of the CEOs, which are frequently
to constantly a topic. Sustainability has
been a hot item in the boardrooms for
many years. It has now become one of the
key social themes for CEOs. It is interest-
ing that in spite of being accorded such
importance, it is not classed as a major
strategic issue, apparently organisations
do not allow social developments to be
leading in preparing their strategic pol-
icy. On the other hand, the other social
theme considered important, digitalisa-
tion , is reflected on the CEOs’ strategic
agendas as well. As digitalisation has an
increasing impact on the way in which
organisations operate, it is not surprising
that cybersecurity is also a major social
theme. The interest in cybersecurity also
in part coincides with the conclusion that
risk management plays an increasing role
within organisations. After all, a leak or
weakness in the digital infrastructure can
have major consequences to the organ-
isation’s primary process and even the
organisation’s reputation. Although many
companies seem to see future mountains
of gold abroad, international themes such
as geopolitical tensions and European
politics have a remarkably low place on
the agenda in many companies.

6. STRATEGY TRENDS 2016 THE CEO’S AGENDA
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Future markets &
Growth prospects3
Most CEOs see opportunities again in the growing Dutch economy.
Both domestic and international growth and opportunities are
spotted. Almost half of all companies expect foreign markets to
become more important than the Dutch market for future sales.
Now that their internal organisation is in order, companies dare to
start looking for new markets.
Future markets
Figure 3.1 What will be the biggest growth markets? (2016 and onwards)
> 20%
11% - 20%
6% - 10%
0% - 5%
4%
12%13%
8%
5%
2%
3%
2%
1%
5%
3%3%3%3%3%3%3%5%
4%
6%
30%30%30%30%
47%

7. 7
With the Dutch economy showing grad-
ual signs of growth, the growth forecasts
are adjusted accordingly. 33% of the
respondent CEOs indicated they expected
stable sales in 2016. No less than 60%
is forecasting clear growth. Only 7% of
respondents takes a more pessimistic view,
expecting to end this year with a decrease
in sales. To reduce cost, many CEOs focus
on adjusting the primary process of the
organisation. In particular process optimi-
sation is considered the best way to reduce
the organisation’s cost in 2016. Further-
more, CEOs also see flexibilisation of the
employee population as a cost-cutting
method. This theme is also relatively high
on this year’s agenda as a strategic card to
play.
Growth expectationsThe Netherlands
Figure 3.2 Budget for 2016, growth, stable or
declining budget (1 possible answer)
Growth
60%
Decline
7%
Stable
33%
For most respondents, the Netherlands
and the adjacent countries remain by far
the biggest sales markets. In 2015, only
54% of respondents indicated that they
saw the Netherlands as their key sales
market. This year, the percentage rose to
over 80%. However, with their internal
affairs in order, companies also start to
look for growth opportunities abroad.
Almost half of all respondents expect to
find the biggest sales markets abroad in
the future. Economic recovery in the USA
is a basis for many respondents to expect
growing sales in North America in the
future. Although the sales growth in East-
ern Europe was forecast at 10% in 2015,
only 3% of respondents indicates short-
term sales growth is expected in that
region. The outlook for the region, how-
ever, still remains positive. Where 2016
forecasts for Asia were slightly tempered
due to disappointing economic figures
for China and some other Asian coun-
tries, significantly higher market growth
is expected in the future. In particular
the energy sector is expecting to achieve
a clear foothold in India in the next few
years. 21% of respondents in the energy
sector indicates seeing India as a key mar-
ket in the future.

8. STRATEGY TRENDS 2016 THE CEO’S AGENDA
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Distinctive
features4
Dutch companies have mainly distinguished themselves on product
quality in the last decade. However, where quality was lonely at the
top in the previous years, innovation is popping up as another way
of distinguishing yourself for many companies. Distinction based on
sustainability, on the other hand, seems an impossibility for many
companies. Sustainability seems to have turned into a ‘licence to
operate’, a basic requirement you must fulfil to be able to compete.
Distinctive features
Figure 4.1 In which way does your company distinguish itself from competitors?
20142013 2015 2016
Quality
Innovation
Customisation
Focus on a specific Segment
Co−design / co−production
Brand (Image)
Sustainability/ CSR
Service
Reliability
Lowest life time costs /
total cost of ownership
Product Range
Design
Online Platform
Ease of customer process
Lowest Price
60%
51%
34%
27%
22%
18%
16%
15%
14%
9%
8%
7%
7%
4%
2%

9. 9
Dutch companies have mainly distin-
guished themselves on the quality of their
products and/or the services they provide
for many years. This year too, over half of
respondents indicate their company aims
to distinguish itself mainly on quality.
Quality was top priority in the past years.
This year however, innovation proves an
increasingly important way to distinguish
an organisation from its competitors. In
2013, only 28% of respondents indicated
they aimed for a leading edge based on
innovation. This has shown a year-on-year
increase to 50% in 2016. In some sectors,
innovation is the new number 1 (finan-
cial services, trade & retail, industry).
Although sustainability is number one
when it comes to social issues and also is
a permanent topic on the CEO’s strategic
agenda (although never at the top), it is
not an element that companies use to
make the difference. Only 16% of respon-
dents indicates that they are aiming to
distinguish themselves on the basis of
sustainability. It seems that sustainability
has become a licence to operate. If com-
panies do not comply, it will harm their
corporate reputation. On the other hand,
as compliance is expected from all com-
panies, it is hard to find a distinguishing
strategy based on sustainability. This is
not true for all sectors: in agrifood and
construction, sustainability is frequently
used as a distinguishing strategy. Price is
clearly not a factor that companies aim
to distinguish themselves on. Before and
during the 2008 crisis, 14% of respon-
dents indicated that price was one of the
main ways to distinguish themselves. In
2016, this has dropped to just 2% of all
respondents.
Service also dropped places as a possible
factor for competative advantage. Up to
2014, service was in second place. Today,
only 15% of CEOs indicates that they
distinguish themselves on (customer)
service. It seems companies are focusing
on customer-driven production methods.
Providing customisation and co-design are
increasingly mentioned as ways to distin-
guish yourself from the competitor in the
past few years.

10. STRATEGY TRENDS 2016 THE CEO’S AGENDA
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Technology
Trends5
Technology increasingly has an impact on the primary processes
within the organisation. It is therefore far from surprising that
themes such as innovation and digitalisation are high on CEOs’
agendas. Big data is the technology that is set to have the highest
impact on the business model in 2016. However, this requires due
care in processing all these data. Accordingly, companies indicate
that they intend to make significant investments in digital safety to
cover the risks involved in big data.
TechnologyTrends
Figure 5.1 Impact matrix, impact of the technology and the readiness to invest in the technology
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Importance of theTrend
Cybersecurity
Big Data
Smart IndustryE-Commerce
Mobile
Serious Gaming
3D-printing
Sharing Economy
Alternative Currency
Crowdsourcing
ReadinesstoInvest
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

11. 11
Technology has an undiminished major
influence on how organisations are man-
aged. The trend of ongoing digitalisation
has an increasing impact on the primary
processes within organisations. Increas-
ingly, customers are looking for infor-
mation on products or services through
online channels. On the other hand,
companies increasingly aim to reach their
customers through online channels. The
front-runner companies are working on
digitising their entire business operations
and primary processes, including entire
factories (for instance using 3D printing).
From the survey, it becomes apparent that
CEOs see big data as the development that
will have the biggest impact on the organi-
sation. In the future, big data is set to play
a key role in organisations, but the risks
must be carefully managed. This is also
clear from the fact that respondents indi-
cate they will invest most in the digital
safety of the organisation. This coincides
with the development that cybersecurity
is increasingly discussed as a social theme
in the boardrooms. The high expectations
of the importance of crowd-funding are
(once again) not materialising this year.
Only 4% of respondents indicates that
crowd-funding as a financing method has
a major effect on the organisation, and
only 5% of them considers investing in
this area in the future. In the financial
sector, this percentage is slightly higher
at 12%, and 18% of respondents in the
construction sector intends to work with
crowd-sourcing in the next year.
Just how quickly things are moving in
innovations and the introduction of new
technology is clear from the investment
trends in the respondent companies. This
shows that both the large (over 1,000
employees) and the small organisations
(1-50 employees) spend a relatively large
percentage of their sales in R&D activities.
Although the middle segment (51-1,000
employees) is the big driver of the Dutch
economy, these companies are investing
relatively less in R&D activities. These
R&D investments also seem to benefit
the smaller organisations most. Over one
third of the respondents with fewer than
51 employees indicate that over 10% of
sales is made with new products. In large
organisations, this percentage is much
lower. Larger organisations also invest
a high percentage of their sales in R&D
activities, but a relatively lower portion of
their sales is based on new products.

12. STRATEGY TRENDS 2016 THE CEO’S AGENDA
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Strategic
Challenges6
Most CEOs indicate that identifying opportunities and risks is
becoming less of a problem. Most organisations know they should
do something to keep up.They also have an increasingly clear idea
where to find the solutions. Finding the right solutions and actually
implementing the solutions found - that will be the key challenge for
Dutch CEOs in 2016.
Strategic Challenges
Figure 6.1 Which aspects of the strategy process are most challenging?
Incorporate the strategy in
goals and strategic plans
37%
26%
Implementing change
34%
32%
45%
Future scan
24%
36%
43%
Involve the right people 18%
13%
Making of strategic choices
16%
18%
20%
Directing the chosen strategy
13%
8%
20%
Determining the
organisational goal
11%
11%
11%
Determining the right
strategic approach
10%
5%
Environmental Analysis
9%
17%
22%
Organisational Analysis
4%
10%
13%
2016
2015
2014

13. 13
CEOs indicate that the challenges in
defining the strategy are mainly related
to actual implementation of the strategy
in terms of goals and annual plans. This
is related to the fact that the implemen-
tation of the required changes proves a
major obstacle to CEOs in ensuring the
success of the strategic process. The imple-
mentation of environmental and organ-
isational analyses seems to become less
of a problem. Exploration of the future is
also not a major issue for organisations.
It seems that companies understand they
have to do something, and increasingly
have a clear idea of the solution paths.
However, just how they are going to act
on it, and choosing the right approach
remains a major challenge to many
organisations.
Today, the strategy process is mainly
something happening in and around the
boardroom. 31% of respondents indi-
cates that the management team and
executives determine the strategy, and
another 23% indicates that the CEO
determines the strategy process. However,
there is a clear trend that organisations
are involving more people in the strategy
process outside the persons frequenting
the boardroom. In 2014, only 10% of
respondents indicated that the strategy is
determined through a dialogue with the
entire organisation. Today, this percentage
has more than doubled to 21%. In partic-
ular in the financial sector this seems a
popular trend, where 39% of companies
indicates that the strategy is determined
in dialogue with the entire organisation.
A clear change is also visible in the strate-
gic planning period. During the financial
crisis, the strategic plan was more focused
on surviving the year, looking just one
year ahead. In 2016, the new standard
has shifted to two to four years. In other
words, in turbulent times, the strategy
process focuses on a short-term, top-down
approach to enable quickly making and
implementing decisions. Today, the organ-
isation is involved in the strategy process
more frequently, and external parties, in
particular current and potential custom-
ers, are also increasingly involved.
Strategic Process
Figure 6.2 How is your strategy determined?
Board &
Management
Team
Top-down Dialogue
with the
organisation
Dialogue
with the middle
management
Branche
strategy
Afterwards
determined
2016
2015
2014
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

14. STRATEGY TRENDS 2016 THE CEO’S AGENDA
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Contact
J.J. (Justin) van der Starre
(030) 291 6801
j.vanderstarre@berenschot.nl
G.J.J.B. (Gerben) van den Berg
(030) 291 6801
g.vandenberg@berenschot.nl
D.S. (Douwe) Suesan
(030) 291 6801
d.suesan@berenschot.nl
Digital Platform:
www.strategytrends.nl

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