Security industries are facing major upheavals in the global markets for their goods and services as the economic downturn kicks in and governments shift priorities in their procurement and upgrade policies, a newly released survey states.

CSC, a leader in technology-enabled solutions and services and which has headquarters in Falls Church, Va., looked especially at aerospace and defense markets while illustrating "new challenges and emerging opportunities" in its report.

 

The market shifts were the subject of discussion and inquiry at recent conferences that brought security industry representatives together but the survey pinpointed changes that potentially impact on companies and their marketing and production plans.

 

The report found that substantive changes in the U.S. administration's defense policies, system priorities and budgets and the effects of the global recession on commercial aerospace were driving new growth strategies within the aerospace and defense industrial base. The globally representative survey queried 2,200 senior and mid-level executives at leading global aerospace and defense companies to identify current and near-term issues facing the industry.

 

"Future growth for the industry is contingent upon developing new business strategies and models to pursue new markets and using technology to enable this shift," said the survey. It said the industry executives were worried about shrinking markets, increasingly complex regulatory frameworks and issues related to technology, knowledge and talent management. At the same time, the survey said, the executives are "also seeing growth opportunities in non-traditional sectors such as cybersecurity, renewable energy and physical and information infrastructures."

 

To pursue growth and avoid being weighed down by the recession, businesses are focusing more on innovation, maintenance of core product and manufacturing capabilities, expansion of foreign military sales, acceleration into adjacent commercial markets, retaining institutional knowledge and new value chain networks.

 

"We are entering a new era in the aerospace and defense industry given the change in U.S. government policy as well as the continued effects of the recession," said Eileen Sweeney, president of CSC's Global Manufacturing Industry Sector. "Future growth for the industry is contingent upon developing new business strategies and models to pursue new markets and using technology to enable this shift," Sweeney said.

 

A shortage of qualified workers is another issue cited by respondents for the survey and contrasts with high unemployment in the United States and most of the industrialized world, where aerospace and defense industries are based. Some respondents said gaps in available expertise could become even more noticeable within the next five years.