CEOs more optimistic on economic outlook for year ahead: PwC
Chief executives are now more optimistic about the economic outlook but are feeling increased pressure to reinvent their companies, a PwC report reveals.
The proportion of CEOs expecting a decline in global economic growth has declined from 12 months ago but business leaders are increasingly concerned about the long-term viability of their company, according to PwC’s latest Annual Global CEO Survey.
Among the 7,702 CEOs responding to the most recent survey, a greater number were optimistic about global economic growth compared to last year.
The survey found that 38 per cent of respondents expect growth will improve in 2024 compared to 18 per cent in the previous year.
However, 45 per cent of all respondents were not confident that their companies would survive more than a decade on their current path. This is an increase from 39 per cent from just 12 months earlier.
PwC reported in its findings that CEOs expect more pressure over the next three years than they experienced over the previous five years from factors such as technology, climate change and nearly every other megatrend affecting global businesses.
Small company chief executives are more likely than their larger company counterparts to feel their company’s viability is threatened.
The overwhelming majority of CEOs or 97 per cent, have taken some steps to change how they create, deliver and capture value over the past five years.
During that span, 76 per cent of CEOs took at least one action that had a large or very large impact on their company’s business model.
Top factors driving change in companies
Chief executives listed technological change, change in customer preferences and government regulations as the top three changes driving change in their company over the next three years.
“The growing importance of trends like these stands in contrast to chief executive perceptions of exposure to several near-term threats, which have declined overall since last year,” the survey report stated.
“Geographically, however, CEOs still see pockets of concern. Inflation remains the top concern for CEOs in the United States, for example, despite receding in terms of expected exposure for global CEOs overall.
Similarly, geopolitical threats are still among the top concerns for CEOs in central and eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East, despite receding for global CEOs overall, said PwC.
While inflation and macroeconomic volatility were still listed as the top threats for the next 12 months ahead, this declined from 40 per cent and 31 per cent for 2023, respectively.
Concern about cyber risk increased slightly from 20 per cent to 21 per cent.
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