Companies around the world are struggling to confront the organizational challenges presented by global trends such as growing competition for talent, shifting centers of economic activity, and an increasingly networked business environment, a McKinsey Quarterly survey¹ shows. Although the challenges are manifold, two themes—how to move quickly and how to deal with geographic and regional diversity—emerge most frequently.

Yet more than two-thirds of the executives we surveyed say that their organizations do not have a clear view of the changes needed to meet these and other looming social and economic developments. Almost half admit that their companies have not installed the right people to lead a response, and around a third do not know who’s accountable for dealing with such issues.

Nonetheless, nine out of ten executives insist that organizational change is either “extremely important” or “very important” to building or maintaining competitive advantage.

Which global trends matter most?

We asked respondents to the survey, covering 93 countries in all the main regions of the world, to choose the three trends that will most affect their companies over the next five years. The respondents then chose the single biggest organizational challenge each trend presents for their companies.

By far...