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Despite the context of global uncertainty, the executive directors of the multinational companies attending the Davos Forum believe that the economies of Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan and the United States will perform positively this year, reveals the annual survey by PwC business consultancy. .
Reading the responses, they found that the CEOs surveyed are putting more emphasis on the interests of their domestic economy over the overall development of the business, which they say “shows an acceleration of trends that have been going on for some time”. .
In the next 12 months, 40% of CEOs feel they are financially exposed to inflation; 31% for economic volatility and 25% for geopolitical conflicts.
These events could have a greater impact if the war in Ukraine progresses, they said.
In the same survey they asked about the risks they see for a period of five years; in this period, the executive directors warn that the biggest risks will be climate change, volatility and cyber events.
Given this situation, the CEOs are willing to reinvent business for the future, given the short-term challenges they have identified, where 75% of them expect a global economic slowdown.
Workforce and talent
The CEOs reported that they cut costs to address the environment and developed strategies to stimulate revenue growth. And a significant majority, that is, 60% of those interviewed, ruled out planning to reduce their workforce in the next 12 months; 23% said they are going to make personnel cuts and 16% said they have already laid off personnel or are currently doing so.
56% said that they froze at this time to hire; 24% said they are considering doing it in the next 12 months and 19% said they have already done it or are doing it.
The directors consulted indicated that “the war for talent is still fierce, even in the prevailing economic conditions.”
“Keeping workers happy and engaged is a critical priority,” they said.
They referred to a PwC investigation in which they explained that leaders have levers to pull when it comes to retaining unpaid employees such as flexibility, fair pay, satisfying work and creating conditions for advancement.
green strategies
Given the impact of climate change, 65% of CEOs who responded to the survey indicated that they have strategies in place to reduce polluting emissions from their companies.
61% reported that they have innovation programs for developing climate-friendly processes and products and 58% noted that they have a data-driven business strategy to reduce polluting emissions.
The survey was conducted among 4,410 CEOs between October and November 2022. The interviewees are located in three regions of the world: North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific.