Political Turmoil and Technology Dominate C-Suite Concerns, Survey Says
In the midst of growing political tension, more than two-thirds of the survey participants said they expected that they'd be asked to take a stance on significant societal issues in the coming year.
October 26, 2018 at 05:53 PM
3 minute read
Global business executives are worried about the tumultuous political climate dragging down the economy, while also grappling with concerns about technology, according to an annual study that offers a glimpse into what's at the forefront of the minds of the C-suite.
Chicago-based management consulting firm A.T. Kearney surveyed 400 senior executives and board members throughout the world for its latest “Views from the C-Suite” survey, which revealed some noteworthy trends and changes from last year's report.
Execs in the 2017 survey also expressed wariness about geopolitical instability, but back then they were more confident about the overall economy. That confidence has dissipated, according to this year's respondents.
“There is growing doubt among the global C-suite that strong macroeconomic performance can coexist with rocky geopolitics,” Erik Peterson, a partner at A.T. Kearney, wrote in the survey introduction. He added that most of this year's respondents were “bearish about the economic outlook in North America, current strong U.S. economic performance notwithstanding.”
In the midst of growing political tension, more than two-thirds of the survey participants said they expected that they'd be asked to take a stance on significant societal issues in the coming year. But that might not be a good move, according to a different study that said speaking out about political campaigns or other hot-button issues such as immigration, abortion or kneeling during the national anthem would do more harm than good.
Unsurprisingly, China also looms large on the minds of execs, according to the A.T. Kearney survey: 73 percent of respondents believed the country would “play a more dominant role in leading global initiatives.”
An almost equal number of respondents saw artificial intelligence becoming a “game-changer for economic growth and competitiveness.”
But technology is a double-edged sword of opportunity and risk. This was the third time that A.T. Kearney has conducted its survey. And for the third year in a row respondents listed cybersecurity as one of their greatest challenges.
In fact, more than 85 percent of the business leaders said their companies had been the victims of cyberattacks. But only 39 percent had deployed robust cyber defense strategies, according to the survey.
Some other noteworthy findings:
• Nearly 70 percent of respondents predicted that the EU's General Data Protection Regulation would spur other countries to expand data privacy laws.
• Some 65 percent of the execs believed Fortune 500 companies would be “increasingly vulnerable to targeted fake news campaigns.”
• 63 percent said extreme weather would curb economic growth.
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