PwC survey says 45% CEOs not confident their firms will survive over 10 years — What needs to change

Nearly 45% of CEOs globally are not confident that their companies would survive more than a decade on their current path, PwC Global CEO Survey has found. This is even as the 4,702 CEOs responding to the latest survey were more optimistic about global economic growth than last year.

The survey suggests that the impetus to reinvent is intensifying. CEOs expect more pressure over the next three years than they experienced over the previous five from technology, climate change and nearly every other megatrend affecting global business, it said.

“A whopping 97% of respondents to PwC’s 27th Annual Global CEO Survey report have taken some steps to change how they create, deliver and capture value over the past five years.”

The findings reflect a growing unease, as 45% of respondents doubted their company’s current trajectory would keep them viable beyond the next decade— up from 39% just 12 months earlier.

In an exclusive interaction with CNBC-TV18 on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in Davos, PwC Global Chairman Bob Moritz said the CEO community is more optimistic this year than the last but the optimism is still fragile.

“The good news is that India is the standout, the degree of confidence from the Indian CEOs on the Indian economy, their optimism on their ability to raise revenues in the next 12 months is number one,” he said.

From diversity, freshers strategy, navigating talent landscape, to adapting to technology, artificial intelligence, making policy and cultural changes, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson of HCLTech, PWC Global Chairman Bob Moritz and Mahindra Group MD and CEO Dr Anish Shah discussed ways in which corporate policies can be evolved.

Reflecting on the opportunities that exist for India and Indian tech, HCLTech chairperson Roshi Nadar, in the panel discussion, said, there is "cautious optimism" and the world is definitely looking at India as not just a destination that offers services but also as a strategic location.

However, a factor she feels people don't give enough attention to is diversity, which without inclusion is a big trap that many organisations get into because they keep chasing metrics of, say 50% women staff target by 2030 or each team which is five and above should have at least one woman.

She pointed out that at HCLTech, there are four women directors on its board, and that's much more than many boards, not just in India, but across the world.

“All the women that we have on the board have been in leadership positions, have been executives. They've been on the other end and risen.” She believes there’s a lot to learn, for instance, a firm may have 50% women freshers but the trouble starts at the leadership level.

"I am still a believer that women also don't want to be put into quotas, we want to rise on merit," she said.

Seconding Nadar, Mahindra Group MD and CEO Dr Anish Shah asserted that it’s the culture that needs to change because organisations need to have a diversity of thought as diversity within teams makes them better.