Despite businesses moving from a focus on resilience during COVID to a new perspective of 'regenerative', currently only 51% of businesses effectively operate in this way. More is needed and more is yet possible.

What is a 'regenerative business'?

Embedding new digital models and advanced analytics, while making supply chains and people models sustainable for business and society is now mission critical. Businesses that wish to fulfill these commitments will require a long-term approach of becoming truly 'regenerative'. This means looking beyond resilience and proactively asking where value can be added back into society and the wider world.

Instead of optimizing for efficiency, the next generation of businesses will regenerate for speed, using external data plus analytical and advanced AI to see and make sense of what's happening outside their own four walls quickly and accurately.

By regenerating the entire business system, from supply chain to customer experience and organizational culture, both business and the public sector can ensure that our teams, companies, and the broader environment can reach and sustain their full potential.

The view from the C-Suite

Kearney's new research report Regenerate: For a future that works for everyone surveyed 800 C-suite business leaders from across the globe (including 159 in the APAC region) and found that 99% of regional business leaders thought that becoming a regenerative business was important. Additionally, in the study, more than half (51%) of APAC leaders reported that their companies were already operating regeneratively effectively. While this is higher than the global average (44%), there is still room for improvement, and more guidance is needed on this new business paradigm.

Similarly, 43% of APAC businesses reported effectively implementing a regenerative culture and 46% said they were already operating a regenerative supply chain very effectively.

Attitudes across the C-suite differ, too. More than half (55%) of APAC CEOs said that their business is very effective at operating regeneratively, with 41% saying there is still a lot of progress yet to be made.

COOs in the region are slightly less optimistic – with only 48% saying that they are currently very effective at operating regeneratively, and another 48% saying there is still progress yet to be made.

The research shows that most C-suites in APAC are adopting leadership styles that support regenerative businesses. They focus on action and empowering others to create their own positivity and change. 49% of CEOs said they are currently operating with regenerative leadership very effectively.

Arjun Sethi, Partner and APAC Regional Chair at Kearney, comments:

"The results of our survey make it clear that businesses in the region want to shift from a merely resilient strategy to a fully regenerative one that is more transformative at its core, whether that requires truly digitizing their obsolete global supply chains, embedding analytics into the entire operating model or upgrading the way they develop and inspire diverse and sustainable workplaces. Unexpected is the new expected, there is no normal as we navigate these necessary self-disruptions. More is needed and more is possible.

"A regenerative business model plugs this gap and takes businesses a step further, by facilitating fundamental change, at the core. Businesses must take a step back and review their business models and assess their products or services and drive maximum value for all stakeholders and the broader ecosystem that they operate in."

Arjun Sethi adds:

"Our research shows that APAC businesses are on the right path toward regenerative models and that they are operating regeneratively in a more effective manner than global respondents. While this is positive, it is equally important that our leaders do not lose sight of the end goal while on this journey. Becoming regenerative is not just about restructuring and ironing out the pain points. It's important that any plan sets the pace for long-term success and really adds value back into the world in which you operate.

"Businesses must build on their strengths and identify new opportunities for growth and impact in the future. Resilience was the watchword of the past few years, now it's going to be 'regenerative'."

Hashtag: #Kearney #Regenerate #ForAFutureThatWorksForEveryone

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About Kearney  

Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm with deep-rooted expertise in strategic transformation. We work with more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500, as well as with government bodies and non-profit organizations. As a global consulting partnership in more than 40 countries, our people make us who we are. We're individuals who take as much joy from those we work with as the work itself. Driven to be the difference between a big idea and making it happen. We work alongside our clients to regenerate their businesses to create a future that works for everyone. To learn more about Kearney, please visit www.kearney.com.