Executive Insights in the Age of AI and Global Disruption: Navigating Change, Technology, and Strategy

Abstract

The global marketing landscape is undergoing a profound transformation driven by the convergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI), geopolitical volatility, and increasingly complex regulatory environments. These forces are accelerating technological adoption while reshaping the structural foundations of global marketing strategy. This study examines how senior marketing leaders from multinational firms are responding to these disruptions, through a practitioner-centered qualitative design drawing on a recorded executive panel discussion. Using an inductive analytical approach that combines reflexive thematic analysis with the Gioia methodology, the study identifies three overarching domains of AI-driven strategic concern encompassing seven interrelated strategic imperatives. These imperatives capture how firms are redefining leadership roles, enhancing organizational agility, strengthening ethical governance, and balancing global coherence with local responsiveness in the digital era. The findings reveal that AI's integration introduces both opportunities for performance enhancement and tensions surrounding authenticity, ethics, and control. By synthesizing practitioner insight with contemporary theory, this study contributes a novel framework for understanding how global marketing leadership orchestrates technological, organizational, and cultural capabilities to navigate digital disruption, regulatory complexity, and the evolving demands of global markets.