CEOs Redesigning Their Daily Lives

Nearly 60% of the world's CEOs expect global economic growth to accelerate in the next 12 months, and 42% expect a 5% increase in headcount, according to PwC's 28th Global CEO Survey, released this Monday at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Almost three-fifths (60%) of CEOs are optimistic about the global economic outlook in the short term, up significantly from 38% last year and 18% two years ago. 42% of CEOs also plan to increase their workforce in the next 12 months - the highest proportions are in the technology (61%), real estate (61%), private equity (52%) and pharmaceuticals and life sciences (51%) sectors - while less than half (17%) plan to reduce their workforce. They believe that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has led to an increase rather than a decrease in the workforce.

Despite this optimism, risks have not abated, with macroeconomic volatility (29%) and inflation (27%) still the most cited threats by CEOs worldwide, followed by cyber risks (24%) and skills shortages (23%). However, there are striking differences between regions, with geopolitical conflict being the main concern in the Middle East (41%) and Central and Eastern Europe (34%), and inflation being the main concern in Africa (39%).

"This year's survey findings point to a stark contrast," according to Mohamed Kande, Global Head of PwC. "While CEOs around the world are optimistic about the year ahead, they also know that value creation cannot happen without renewal. Emerging technologies such as GenAI, as well as geopolitical shifts and climate change, are creating new business ecosystems that are also creating new competitive environments. Those who are willing to make bold decisions about their strategy - from their employees to their ecological footprint and supply chain to rethinking their business model - will be the ones who succeed," he added.

As in the past two years, four in ten CEOs (42%) believe that their company will not be viable in a decade's time - mainly due to changes in the regulatory environment - if it continues on its current path. But CEOs are not idle: across all sectors, almost two-thirds (63%) have taken at least one significant action in the last five years to transform the way their company creates value. Those who have implemented more than one reform have seen bigger gains, with 38% entering at least one new sector and a third seeing their revenues grow by more than 20% over the period.

But the pace of renewal is slow and the vast majority of companies are not agile enough. About half of those surveyed said they reallocate up to 10% of their financial and human resources each year, and more than two-thirds less than 20%.