52% of Canadian business leaders say it’s no longer worthwhile financing internal expertise for specialized niches. The trend seems rather to use external resources.
This is what a new Angus Reid study conducted for the Richter accounting and finance consulting firm seems to show. In “The Canadian BizHealth Report”, more than half of 500 executives interviewed across Canada rely on the use of consultants. The use of specific external resources should therefore be a key strategy in business growth for the near future, going by the report’s conclusions. In Quebec, leaders would be more inclined to follow this course of action. They particularly seek strategic support in very specific fields such as risk management and business valuation.
Shortage of specialized manpower
But why abandon internal resources? Very simply because businesses have for same time faced difficulties in recruitment for highly skilled positions as well as a shortage of specialized manpower. Close to 6 leaders out of 10 (58%) say they follow their instincts to set the route for the growth of their business. This is unless they make use of external consultants to support them in reaching their goals.
Talent recruitment and retention
On the other hand, recruiting talent remains a major challenge for 71% of executives interviewed, and they say the task is becoming increasingly difficult. To correct this, they often have to increase the pay scale and have their talented people more closely involved in the business.