To the point: PwC's 27th Annual Global CEO Survey

Welcome to the 7th edition of our monthly newsletter, where our team of experts breaks down complex topics into bitesized and intriguing insights, ensuring that you're always in the know. This issue is all about PwC’s 27th Annual Global CEO Survey.  

Learn all about this new study, brought to you by our experts. From exclusive insights into the transformation process to sustainability, generative artificial intelligence and the workforce. Prepare to challenge your assumptions and discover new ways of thinking. 💡💼

Global economic uncertainty: Swiss CEOs respond with stability and agility

This week we launched PwC Switzerland’s 27th Annual Global CEO Survey at the World Economic Forum in Davos. We surveyed over 4,700 CEOs around the world and 79 in Switzerland on their views of the economy and the challenges and opportunities they will be facing in the coming months and years. Notably, the survey shows that growth optimism is returning: Swiss companies appear to be in a solid financial position. They’ve balanced their value chains and increased their resilience. However, the responses also revealed a certain polarity of opinions, reflecting uncertainty about developments and events.

Learn about what’s on the minds of CEOs and much more in our chapters on growth, transformation, workforces, sustainability and generative AI. We can also recommend our two excursions into customer transformation and sustainability reporting.

Explore our latest survey now

Growth: staying stable and agile

Now we’ll present you some interesting findings from the study. When it comes to growth, optimism has returned. Following a year of pronounced pessimism on a 12-month horizon, optimism has returned to some extent. Of the CEOs in Switzerland polled, 38% believe that the global economy will grow in the coming year, which is 20% more than in the previous survey. When it comes to long-term growth, Swiss CEOs are more optimistic than their colleagues worldwide: 51% of those surveyed expect the development of sales to be very to extremely promising over the next three years. At the global level, this figure is 2 percent lower.

In various industries the competitive dynamics have ramped up significantly in speed and intensity, increasing competition on price and quality. This growth dynamic primarily affects healthcare industries, as well as technology, media and telecommunications companies. The latter are below average in Switzerland compared with other countries.

Growth: read chapter two of the survey

Transformation: thriving in an age of continuous reinvention

As existential threats converge, many companies are taking steps to reinvent themselves. This year’s CEO Survey, suggests that the vast majority of companies are already doing so. For example, 90% of the CEOs surveyed in Switzerland are investing in automating processes and systems.

CEOs in Switzerland rank changing customer preferences as the third most important factor in the way their company has created value in the past (34%) and will continue to create value in the future (38%). In other words, Swiss companies are transforming in a way that puts the customer at the centre.

Transformation: read chapter three of the survey

More on transformation

Find more exciting insights about transformation on our website and in our studies. For example, the best-performing businesses show significant differences in customer transformation approaches and outcomes. What are these differences? Find out in our PwC Market Winners Study 2023.

Workforces: refining culture and leadership

Of the CEOs surveyed in Switzerland, 57% consider it highly challenging to retain talent; 52% consider building a pipeline of leaders for the future to be highly challenging. These statements reflect the omnipresent shortage of skilled labour and a changing understanding of values.

Workforce: read chapter four of the survey

What’s preoccupying the Swiss workforce?

With the war for talent and employee motivation high on the corporate agenda, organisations need reliable intelligence on the hopes and fears of the workforce. Find out more in our Hopes and Fears Survey 2023.

Sustainability: balancing profitability with ambition

Most of the Swiss CEOs surveyed are working on measures to innovate and sell climate-friendly products and services. When it comes to sustainability, however, there is a certain level of sluggishness in implementation. It remains a topic for the future, with its effects on day-to-day operations taking a backseat.

Twenty-seven per cent of CEOs in Switzerland cite the complexity of regulations as the third-highest obstacle to decarbonising their company. Regulations on reporting about environmental, social and governance matters are tightly controlled by regulators, standard setters and supervisory authorities, primarily in the EU.

Sustainability: read chapter five of the survey

Generative artificial intelligence (AI): creating disruptive momentum

Sixteen percent of CEOs in Switzerland have adopted generative AI in their company. Worldwide, this figure is twice as high. Swiss C-level executives appear to be more cautious than their global counterparts regarding other statements about the influence of generative AI on their business.

Compared with the start-up mentality in regions such as Scandinavia, North America or Asia, Swiss CEOs tend to display fast-follower behaviour. They are rarely the first to introduce new technologies such as cloud solutions or generative AI. However, they closely monitor markets, customers and competitors. By introducing innovations with a slight delay but quickly, they’re able expand their range of products with greater customer utility and at the same time benefit from lower costs.

Artificial intelligence: read chapter six of the survey

AI isn’t just a new set of tools. It’s the new world. From automation to augmentation and beyond, AI is already starting to change everything.

Learn more about our AI services

What are the Swiss media writing about the survey?

Interview for SRF Börse with Andreas Staubli

Article in the Handelszeitung

Article on nau.ch

Article on blick.ch

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