European Firms Excel at Anticipating Change, Fail to Execute It

European businesses are grappling with a significant implementation gap in executing business reinvention strategies, despite their strong capabilities in anticipating market disruptions, according to new research by Reinvantage. The study, which surveyed over 1,000 business leaders across five countries—Poland, Romania, Türkiye, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom—reveals that only 12.9 per cent of companies qualify as 'Reinvention Leaders'—those capable of successfully navigating and implementing transformation initiatives. The research identifies a persistent disconnect between strategic foresight and operational execution, a challenge that researchers refer to as the 'anticipation-execution gap' [1].

Türkiye emerged as the unexpected leader in reinvention readiness, with a score of 56.2 per cent, closely followed by the United Kingdom (55.3 per cent) and Ukraine (54.5 per cent). The narrow gap between these top performers—only 4.4 percentage points—suggests that cultural attitudes toward change and risk may outweigh geographical factors in determining business resilience. Researchers attributed Türkiye’s success to its long-term experience in managing volatility, which has fostered a culture of rapid adaptation. Ukraine's strong third-place ranking is particularly notable given the ongoing geopolitical instability in the region, with the research suggesting that crises can act as a catalyst for transformation [1].

Risk aversion is a recurring theme across the study, with 60.6 per cent of European business leaders identified as 'Risk-Averse' in all five countries. This shared characteristic is described as a cultural trait that has historically supported steady, incremental growth but now may be a barrier in a fast-changing business environment. The study highlights that 75 per cent of businesses must now pivot more frequently than in previous decades, making cautious approaches increasingly problematic. The findings suggest that European businesses may be at a strategic disadvantage compared to counterparts in the United States and China, where rapid execution is seen as a competitive strength [1].

Female executives demonstrated a statistically significant edge in reinvention readiness, scoring 1.3 percentage points higher than their male counterparts. This advantage is particularly evident in the implementation phase of transformation initiatives. Researchers speculate that collaborative leadership styles commonly associated with female executives may enhance team dynamics and adaptability during change. Given that 60-70 per cent of change initiatives fail outright, this gender-based insight could have important implications for leadership development and team composition in European organizations [1].

The research also challenges assumptions about age and adaptability, finding no correlation between a leader’s age and their capacity for reinvention. The study assesses reinvention readiness across three key dimensions—Anticipate, Design, and Implement—and reveals that while European companies generally score above 54 per cent in anticipating change, their implementation scores fall to between 50.8 and 53.6 per cent. This implementation deficit is increasingly urgent as disruptive forces such as artificial intelligence and geopolitical instability reshape the global business landscape. The findings underscore a growing threat to European competitiveness in the face of these converging challenges [1].

Source: [1] Bridging Europe's reinvention gap (https://reinvantage.org/bridging-europes-reinvention-gap/)