The Economist Intelligence Unit has identified Global Sourcing as one of the key drivers for growth in emerging markets, but highlights competition for talent as a real problem area.

The Economist Intelligence Unit's fifth annual CEO Briefing survey’s results a lack of available local talent will be the single greatest barrier to growth for firms that operate within emerging markets over the next three years.

Labour is also the primary barrier to growth in developed markets, according to the 1,006 executives surveyed worldwide (including 115 from the United States), but here the problem is high cost. As competition for talent heightens in all markets, firms will put more effort into their own training and development programmes, while also emphasising performance-based compensation more than ever.

The survey highlights the importance of emerging markets to companies as primary revenue and sourcing opportunities. A clear majority of respondents intends to invest more time and money in emerging markets over the next three years than in developed markets. For the second year running, rising demand in the developing world is seen as the most critical force at play in the global marketplace (34%), followed by global sourcing (32%).

"Although the differences between the developed and developing worlds are eroding, the report makes it clear that they are still very distinct business landscapes," says Andrew Palmer, editor of the report.

As well as battling with a shortage of skilled local workers, business leaders entering emerging markets feel that they have a poorer understanding of customers and are more worried by the risk of economic and financial volatility. For developed markets, by contrast, executives from all over the world point not just to high labour costs but also saturated markets as the critical challenges they face. Strategies differ too: firms will primarily focus on pushing new products at existing customers in developed markets, while offering existing products to new customers in emerging markets.

Commenting on the report, Andrew Cahn, Chief Executive of UK Trade & Investment said: "This report gives a crucial insight into the way executives around the world view the challenges and opportunities facing global business. Emerging markets are clearly top of the agenda, but they're not risk-free environments, and the business culture is frequently very different. It is more important than ever those corporate leaders have access to high quality, impartial advice on which to base their management decisions."

A full copy of the Economist Intelligence Unit's fifth annual CEO Briefing survey can be downloaded here.