A recent McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives¹ suggests that technology executives are more bullish about innovation and automation than are their business counterparts and see managing global scale and finding skilled people as two of their biggest challenges.

Our survey polled some 9,300 business and technology leaders around the world (Exhibit 1) on the most important trends affecting the global economy during the next five years, particularly factors that could promote or constrain growth. Overall, business and technology executives see eye to eye: both identify the increasing pace of technological innovation, the growing affluence of emerging economies, and low-cost offshore manufacturing as the most important trends for global business. But opinions diverge when it comes to the importance of innovation as well as certain key management issues.