PAOLA AROSIO
Freelance Journalist

“Italian freelance journalist, for the past 15 years, she has been writing for both technical and popular publications. Her articles are mainly focused on medicine, healthcare, chemistry, pharma.”

Abstract

Confidence in company growth rises and human capital becomes a priority, but globalisation has done little to solve inequality: these are some of the key findings of PwC’s annual survey of leaders worldwide. It’s time for them to step forward and help safeguard the future by ensuring the benefits of business go to everyone.

"Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together", James Cash Penney, an American businessman, said. "Growth" is one of the keywords also in PwC’s 20th annual survey of CEOs worldwide, carried out between September and December 2016 with 1,379 CEOs responding from 79 countries, to online, postal, face to face and phone interviews. The survey shows that business leaders are positive in their outlook: 51% of them are extremely positive about the longer-term prospects for revenue growth and 38% are very upbeat about the immediate outlook (Figure 1). Bob Moritz, PwC’s Global Chairman, says: "Despite a tumultuous 2016, CEO confidence is moving back up. There are signs of optimism across the globe, including in the UK and US, where despite predictions of a Trump slump and a Brexit exit, business leaders confidence in their company’s growth are up from a year ago".
In the past, the highest levels of confidence in 12 month growth for companies was recorded in 2007 (52% of CEOs very confidend), the lowest was in 2009 (21%). 2014 recorded the highest ever levels of CEO confidence in gl ...