New research from Price Waterhouse Coopers stresses the need for a different kind of mindset to deal with the “intensity” of pressure on aerospace and defense companies to deliver across the board. The new report titled, A New Intensity: Programs Under Pressure, underscores the need for companies to excel in more than one discipline, as opposed to past approaches toward choosing one of three areas: solutions leadership, operational excellence or customer intimacy.

“Our report reveals that companies will need a different kind of program management mindset in which partnership, internationalism, inclusivity and innovation rank as highly as the ‘getting it out the door’ approach,” said Price Waterhouse Coopers’ global A&D leader, Neil Hampson. “We are in an era of fierce international competition. The winners will need to demonstrate they can use innovation as a key competitive advantage as well as anticipate, understand and match customers’ needs.”

In all, 64 percent of senior executives surveyed for the report said innovation would prove vital to gaining a competitive edge, as well as delivering programs more integrated with customer needs, markets and supply chains. Only 9 percent said they consider protecting intellectual property a top priority.