CEO outlook: Optimism, and caution, pave the road ahead in Boston Consulting Group survey
As economic uncertainty clouds the immediate fortunes for businesses, a recent survey from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that CEOs remain focused on positioning their businesses for growth.
According to the report, “CEO Outlook 2023: Caution, Optimism and Navigating the Road Ahead,” 73% of C-suite executives expect macroeconomic uncertainties to be a key challenge this year, yet 79% are optimistic in their company’s performance. BCG said that “while cost cutting is clearly their priority, most companies are doing so in ways aimed at resetting their organizations for growth and enhancing resilience.”
“This nuanced CEO outlook holds true even in sectors where big layoffs have recently dominated the news. For instance, top technology company executives in our survey cited retaining and developing talent and boosting innovation in the year ahead as equally important—if not higher—priorities than shedding workers, particularly in North America,” the report noted. “Our study also found that companies that have devoted the most energy to improving resilience are outperforming their industry peers in total shareholder returns and are more prone to reinvest their cost savings in areas that could give them a strategic advantage.”
The BCG survey of 759 global executives in energy, industrial goods, health care, tech and media, financial institutions, consumer goods and transport/infrastructure/travel/logistics.
