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Discover EY's latest insights around changing consumer sentiments and behaviour across global markets with EY's Future Consumer Index.
Read moreUntil now, this is an approach that has worked. But customers are demanding more and better from the companies they do business with. In the latest EY Future Consumer Index survey, 68% of consumers think the company’s behavior is as important as what it sells, while 69% say brands must behave ethically and in line with community expectations. Yet only 38% think the positive actions brands are taking are good enough.
As customers increasingly look for better experiences and choose brands that align with their values, a growth-at-all-costs mindset becomes unsustainable.
The race for survival has distorted good intentions
It’s easy to understand why CMOs and their organizations have followed the growth-at-all-costs path. Incumbent companies are in a race for survival. Where they once only worried about gaining market share within their industry and among their peers, they now face hyper-competition from mega tech vendors and, increasingly, small but massively funded digital start-ups. Every company in every industry has needed to become a technology company in one form or another to compete for highly coveted data and “active users.”
At the same time, customer, employee and investor expectations are changing as rapidly as the digital technology enabling them.
In response to these pressures, many companies say they have put purpose at the center of their transformations. They talk about long-term value, which seeks to measure performance beyond financials to include governance, people, planet and prosperity. Yet, very often, aspirations fail to result in action, as companies ultimately fall back on quarterly earnings as their barometer for success.