www.accenture.com/fuel-growth The rules of competitiveness are changing. Businesses must fire on all cylinders to keep pace with the unprecedented demands for speed, scale and agility. To drive profitable growth, companies must identify activities that drive value, take out non-value adding costs and reinvest savings into growth. Accenture Strategy research revealed that businesses have made cost reduction and growth a priority—but the critical link between cost reduction and growth strategy is broken.

1. The broken link –
Why cost reduction
efforts fail to fuel growth

2. The rules of competitiveness are
changing. Businesses must fire
on all cylinders to keep pace with
the unprecedented demands for
speed, scale and agility. To drive
profitable growth, companies
must identify activities that
drive value, take out non-value
adding costs and reinvest
savings into growth.
Accenture Strategy research
revealed that businesses have
made cost reduction and growth
a priority—but the critical link
between cost reduction and
growth strategy is broken.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved. 2

3. 3Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
Accenture Strategy research revealed...
1. Businesses give purpose to cost reduction activities,
aiming to increase profitability, but struggle with
sustainable execution due to inflexible operating models.
82% agree that their
business is reinvesting
cost savings into
growth initiatives.
Only 36% strongly agree
their business sustains
the benefit of cost
reduction programs.
Only 24% of
companies have a
flexible operating
model that can adapt
to consistently deliver
on strategy.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved. 3

4. 4Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
Accenture Strategy research revealed...
2. Companies are focused on reinvesting savings
to fuel growth, but leadership misalignment and
competing priorities impede progress.
54% of companies are challenged
identifying the right areas to
reinvest cost savings.
Only 1 out of 3 C-suite executives
and 1 out of 4 VPs believes that
the reinvestment priorities are in
line with the business strategy.
C-suite
VPs
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved. 4

5. 5Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
Accenture Strategy research revealed...
3. Investing in Digital is one area where
executives clearly align to drive growth
and advanced operating models.
54% agree that their organization
is reinvesting cost savings into
digital technologies.
84% agree that technology
is an enabler of strategic
cost reduction.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved. 5

6. 6Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
1. Organize for growth
2. Manage the journey
3. Digitize to fuel sustainable growth
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved. 6
Three Actions to Fuel Profitable Growth

7. 7Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional
services company, providing a broad range of
services and solutions in strategy, consulting,
digital, technology and operations. Combining
unmatched experience and specialized skills
across more than 40 industries and all
business functions—underpinned by the
world’s largest delivery network—Accenture
works at the intersection of business and
technology to help clients improve their
performance and create sustainable value for
their stakeholders. With approximately
373,000 people serving clients in more than
120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to
improve the way the world works and lives.
Visit us at www.accenture.com.
Join the conversation:
@AccentureStrat
To learn more, download the full report:
www.accenture.com/fuel-growth
Copyright © 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved. 7
About Accenture Strategy
Accenture Strategy operates at the
intersection of business and technology.
We bring together our capabilities in
business, technology, operations and
function strategy to help our clients
envision and execute industry-specific
strategies that support enterprise wide
transformation. Our focus on issues
related to digital disruption,
competitiveness, global operating
models, talent and leadership help drive
both efficiencies and growth. For more
information, follow @AccentureStrat or
visit www.accenture.com/strategy.