As for the main factors causing this increase in complexity, respondents from Mexico were split between the impact of the recent economic recession, and the effect of increasing competition in their markets.
When it came to predictions for the future pace of complexity, however, Mexican respondents stood out as being moderately optimistic, with 48 percent suggesting it would either decrease or stay the same, versus a global average of 39 percent.
Throughout the survey, tax policy stood out as a key issue influencing the level of complexity in Mexico. Almost eight in 10 respondents cited tax policy as a main cause of their existing complexity; an equal amount believed it would continue to be an issue into the future.
As a result, Mexican businesspeople report finding themselves facing three main challenges: an increased burden of risk to manage (89 percent), the need to acquire new skills (80 percent) and more difficulties when going out into the market to compete (also 80 percent). It is worth noting that only one in five Mexican survey respondents identified challenges related to conducting deals and transactions, the lowest number among surveyed countries and almost 40 percent below the global average.
In response, 84 percent of Mexican businesses reported using improved information management to reduce – or at least better manage – complexity, and almost eight in ten pointed to some sort of business reorganization to achieve more straightforward business operations.
Respondents from Mexico were among the most optimistic in the survey. Almost 90 percent felt that complexity would create new opportunities for their business in the future. This compares favorably with their largest regional neighbor Brazil (at 80 percent), their largest trading partner the US (at 74 percent), and especially with European pessimists such as Germany (at 53 percent).
The majority of opportunities identified by Mexican respondents tended to be inward-looking. Almost unanimously (98 percent), respondents suggested they would focus on creating new and better strategies for their companies as a result of complexity, once again a far higher proportion than their global peers who more often expected to focus on gaining competitive advantage. More than 90 percent of Mexican respondents also expect to find opportunities to make their company more efficient.
Nevertheless, 86 percent of Mexican businesspeople suggested that they may find opportunities to expand into new markets as a result of complexity. So while only 16 percent cited their foreign operations as a factor in creating complexity in the past, 70 percent say that it will likely be a cause, and possibly a welcome cause, in the future.
Four out of five Mexican respondents also said that they expect to feel increasing pressure from complexities related to the pace of innovation, second only to the continued challenges represented by tax policy.
Going forward, businesspeople in Mexico believe that they may take on new or additional activities to address the complexity they expect to face over the next two years. A large number (85 percent) continue to cite information management as an area that they intend to improve on, but more than three quarters also suggest they may reorganize all or part of their businesses. Strategies that seemed more externally focused, such as investing in new countries or conducting mergers and acquisitions, were at the bottom of the list, with less than half of respondents selecting these as options for the future.
The view of complexity taken by Mexican respondents is a curious mixture of concern over the problems they are dealing with today, and anticipation of the opportunities to come. There is certainly a feeling of energy among these people, and a sense of optimism that the next phase in the development of world trade, while it might bring more complexity, will also bring Mexico more prosperity.
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