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Global CEO Survey Findings Announced at World Economic Forum in Davos

2003/01/28

Key findings from PwC's 6th annual Global CEO Survey are to be announced today by PricewaterhouseCoopers global CEO Sam DiPiazza at a press conference at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This year's survey, which features the views of nearly 1,000 CEOs in 43 countries, examines prospects for economic growth, efforts to rebuild public trust, and corporate social responsibility/sustainability issues.

The theme of this year's survey is "Leadership, Responsibility, and Growth in Uncertain Times." The survey features comprehensive quantitative data -- global, regional, and industry cuts are available -- as well as verbatim quotes from CEOs around the world. In addition, the survey report includes a special insert with in-depth leadership interviews with Li & Fung chairman Victor Fung, Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy, Novartis CEO Dan Vasella, and leadership guru Warren Bennis.

According to the Global CEO Survey:

Business confidence was surprisingly high, with 72 percent of CEOs at least somewhat confident about prospects for revenue growth in the next 12 months.

Overregulation -- or perhaps bad regulation -- is seen as being as great a threat to business growth as global terrorism and the threat of war.

Of those companies that foresee opportunities in the months ahead, innovation and CEO leadership and vision are viewed as the key levers.

Almost three-quarters of CEOs stated that their companies did not experience a decline in public trust, but just over half said corporations in their country had suffered in the public's eye.

Nearly half were positive about American regulators imposing standards of accountability that reach beyond US borders.

Almost half said government is out of touch with business needs. Over 80 percent believe that the CFO now has an increased role in strategic planning and leadership.

More CEOs agreed that sustainability is vital to the profitability of any company, an increase from 69 percent last year to 79 percent in this year's survey.

An impressive number of CEOs -- 71 percent -- said they would sacrifice short-term profitability in exchange for long-term shareholder value when implementing a sustainability program.

As expected, the main factor driving sustainability is concern about reputation and brand.

http://www.pwcglobal.com/gx/eng/ins-sol/survey-rep/ceo6/index.html