Companies in the UK are focused on how to meet their growth ambitions, but significant strategic and operational gaps are presenting obstacles for executing those growth targets to promote innovation, according to a new survey.
Overall, only 18.4% of businesses achieve more than 80% of their aspirational growth goals within three years of setting them, and 41.2% of companies fail to achieve 60% or more of their stated targets in this timeframe, according to a survey of large UK companies by Strategy Management Partners (SMP), a global professional services firm.
These findings illustrate significant gaps between growth ambitions for organisations and sufficient strategies in place to execute those ambitions, as some companies also lack clarity around aligning strategy with outcomes, an SMP news release said. Only 46% of organisations have a “clearly measurable value gap between their current and desired future state”.
A survey of 250 business leaders from UK companies with a £20 million-plus turnover and operations in at least one other country was conducted in March by Censuswide on behalf of SMP.
Skill shortages stall innovation
Internal issues are stalling innovation plans, and more than half of decision-makers (50.4%) identified talent and capability gaps as the primary barrier to effective strategy delivery, the release said.
Leaders highlighted pain points around skills shortages, insufficient capacity, lack of empowerment to execute strategies effectively, and misalignments between incentives and strategic priorities.
Skill shortages are a global concern for companies, an issue detailed in Deloitte’s 2025 Global Human Capital Trends report, as emerging technologies and disruptions to training models complicate upskilling practices for businesses. Resources cited in Deloitte’s report call for organisations to address the experience paradox, such as through entry-level jobs that enable employees to develop the necessary skills for their roles.
Skills gaps could also widen the innovation gap for businesses, particularly for small- and medium-size entities (SMEs). According to research from the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, organisations should “invest in relevant training and embrace technology advancements” as they come.
Aligning leadership with desired outcomes
In some cases, leaders are failing to drive innovation for enterprising purposes outside of current business demands. According to SMP’s findings, the majority of UK companies (61.2%) “only pursue innovation incrementally and/or when necessary, rather than proactively”.
However, many leaders report that ongoing external macroeconomic factors such as tax burdens and compliance requirements (79.2%), fluctuations and volatilities around monetary policy (79.2%), supply chain disruptions (76.4%), and economic instability (72%) are presenting further hurdles to proactive innovation, the release said.
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Steph Brown at Stephanie.Brown@aicpa-cima.com.
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