According to a Deloitte Global survey released at WEF Davos, Indian business leaders also adopt a more inclusive decision-making process.
New Delhi: Ethical use of breakthrough technologies is a greater preoccupation for Indian business leaders than it is for their counterparts around the world, a study released at the 2019 World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos suggests.
According to Deloitte Global’s second-annual readiness study, 55 per cent of the Indian executives surveyed seemed concerned about the ethical usage of technologies, compared to 30 per cent globally.
The survey, conducted on 2,000 C-suite, or senior, executives across 19 countries, was aimed at assessing business and government readiness for the fourth industrial revolution — known as Industry 4.0 and pegged on the unprecedented adoption of technology in day-to-day life, like smart devices and artificial intelligence.
While the advent of the current technological era has made life simpler for people, it has also worried experts with its vast potential for misuse.
Much of this dilemma played out on the global stage last year when it emerged that a UK-based firm, Cambridge Analytica, had harvested data from millions of Facebook users and their unwitting friends, which was secured through an app pitched as a psychological quiz.
This data was then reportedly deployed in a marketing tool meant to influence voter behaviour.
In India, 130 executives were surveyed to gauge how leaders were taking action to address newer advancements, where they were making progress, and what sets the most effective leaders apart.
According to the survey, 40 per cent of Indian executives said their leadership had conducted frequent discussions about the ethical use of technologies, compared to 29 per cent globally. Twenty-two per cent said they were exploring ways to or had put in place policies on ethical use, compared to only 12 per cent globally.
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‘Better than global peers’
Indian business leaders, according to the Deloitte Global report, scored better than their global counterparts on various other parameters as well, including their emphasis on customer satisfaction, ability to generate profit from purpose, approach to training their workforce, and an inclusive decision-making process.
Fifty-eight percent of Indian leaders — highest of all countries surveyed —said their organisation had a clearly defined decision-making process compared to just 29 per cent globally.
Importantly, they said their decision-making processes were more inclusive of a diverse set of stakeholders and likely to be based on data-driven insights. These processes, they added, often went beyond financial returns to include societal impact
According to the study, 29 per cent of the Indian executives surveyed said they relied on customer satisfaction, compared to 18 per cent overall.
More than four in 10 — 41 per cent of Indian executives, compared to just 33 per cent globally — indicated that their organisations were investing in new technologies and were willing to disrupt the market.
The study also showed that 65 per cent of Indian executives — compared to 69 per cent the world over — felt they had the leeway from their leadership to fail and learn in the context of innovation.