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Business leaders the world over love to rhapsodize about the virtues of globalization, and they often claim to be driving the process. But being a cheerleader is a lot less daunting than actually playing the game. According to a poll of more than 900 top executives worldwide, a surprising number of corporate chiefs are worried that their own companies don't have what it takes to compete in the international marketplace.

The poll, conducted by the management-consulting company Accenture, provides an intriguing snapshot of the key concerns of corporations at a time of turbulent economic transformation. Among the findings, which will be published this month during the World Economic Forum in Davos: most executives said that both their customers and their suppliers had become more global over the past five years. Likewise, just over half said their employees now come from a wider array of countries than ever before. But asked how well prepared they thought their organizations were to succeed as global enterprises, 22% said they were either "extremely poorly" or "somewhat poorly" equipped. Strikingly, there were huge national differences, with British, French, German and Spanish executives showing the most confidence, Americans displaying average confidence, and Chinese and Japanese the least. Almost one in two of the Chinese and one in three of the Japanese polled by Accenture said they were poorly equipped to become successful global players.

Mark Spelman, the head of Accenture's policy and corporate-affairs group, says the results are an indication of the growing complexity that managements the world over are now having to confront. "There's a realization that executives will have to deal with different dynamics going forward," Spelman says—an unsettling reality for companies that have tended to look at the world from a narrowly national angle. He cites research and development as a prime example: R&D centers, once kept close to domestic headquarters, have been springing up around the world as companies seek to lower product-development costs. China and India are attracting the most investment dollars, but other locations are also rapidly emerging. For example, Motorola, Capgemini and Delphi are all setting up R&D centers in Krakow, Poland. Companies accustomed to keeping their R&D operations at home may end up missing important opportunities, says Spelman, because innovation is no longer confined to traditional research havens such as Silicon Valley. He points out that 12% of all nanotechnology patents are now held in China—an indication that cutting-edge technologies are increasingly being developed in new markets.

Another surprise from the poll results: while more than one out of three executives listed the impact of the global economy on their businesses as the single toughest challenge they face, they were relatively unconcerned about geopolitical risks—despite increasing turmoil in the Middle East and the appearance of mounting threats such as a nuclear-armed North Korea. Those polled were more focused on knotty management problems over which they had some control. The executives cited the ability to maintain a common corporate culture as their greatest challenge, followed by understanding local customs and ways of doing business. "Suddenly, companies are having to operate in countries they know less well," Spelman says. "What's clear is that the degree of complexity in managing a business has gone up, and those executives whose organizations are not truly global are realizing that they'll need to change." Trumpeting the miracle of globalization is easy. Change is hard.

• Peter Gumbel