An overwhelming 76% of 5,050 CEOs spread across one hundred nations and territories, like India, polled by PwC in a survey stated they are optimistic about the international economy, even as the globe completes a year below the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The level of optimism expressed by CEOs is the highest considering that the annual survey began asking this query in 2012. The PwC annual international CEO survey was carried out through January-February 2021.
“CEOs now face two fundamental challenges: first, how to build trust with a broad range of stakeholders, whose expectations of business are higher than ever before; and second, how to adapt their businesses and deliver sustained outcomes in a rapidly changing external environment so as to become strong, resilient and productive businesses, post the pandemic,” PwC India chairman Sanjeev Krishan stated.
While worry more than a further pandemic is the topmost threat for business enterprise leaders across the globe, majority of India CEOs really feel the international financial development more than the next 12 months will enhance, reiterating the optimism PwC heard from its clientele in current instances, he stated.
“As companies expand their use of external partnerships to enable digital solutions and layer them onto legacy IT structures, the complexity created tends to generate ever-greater cyber risk which is an area that Indian business leaders need to tackle in the months to come,” Krishan stated.
Cyber threat is a leading concern for CEOs in the asset and wealth management, insurance coverage, private equity, banking and capital markets, and technologies sectors, the survey findings revealed.
Kotak Mahindra Bank founder & CEO Uday Kotak stated, “During Covid, we have witnessed increased fraud in the banking system. The thought of losing my customers’ money to theft is what keeps me up at night. So, while Covid has brought about a significant increase in digital adoption and transactions, it has also increased the risks associated with digital.”
Also increasing swiftly on the list of CEOs’ issues is the spread of misinformation (28% are ‘extremely concerned,’ up from 16% in final year’s study), the current effect of which on elections, reputations and public well being has been profound. At its core, misinformation reflects today’s historically low levels of trust. For business enterprise leaders who require to develop back this trust, becoming transparent about the efficacy of items and sharing information can support.
The survey findings show that the US has extended its lead as the quantity one marketplace that CEOs are hunting to for development more than the next 12 months at 35%, seven percentage points ahead of China at 28%, the report revealed.
“At 17%, Germany holds on to its number three spot on the list of growth destinations, while the UK, post-Brexit, moves up to number four (11%), surpassing India (8%). Japan also rises up the ranking to become the sixth most attractive growth destination, overtaking Australia which held that position last year,” it stated.