KPMG survey shows concern about environmental risk, growing international trade frictions and disruptive technologies
Confidence in the Canadian economy by CEOs is falling.
KPMG’s latest Global CEO Outlook, released on Thursday, said Canadian CEOs had a 15 per cent drop in confidence about the potential for domestic growth while globally CEOs reported a nine per cent hike in confidence over last year.
The annual report surveys CEOs on the biggest risks facing their businesses and the strategies they’re employing to address them and continue to drive growth.
“Canadian CEOs are actually still fairly bullish on our economy with eight out of 10 believing we’ll continue to see growth,” said Benjie Thomas, Canadian managing partner of advisory services for KPMG in Canada, in a news release.
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“But events over the past year have eroded their confidence somewhat. They are worried that environmental risk, growing international trade frictions and emerging disruptive technologies pose real threats to continued growth. What is telling about these concerns is they all tend to be global issues rather than national ones – and they are the same top three risks identified by CEOs right across the globe.”
He said the environment and territorialism didn’t make the top three threats last year, but the lack of consensus on environmental issues weighs heavily on the minds of CEOs given Canada’s dependence on the resource sector.
The report said Canadian CEOs remain concerned about the effects of disruptive technologies on their businesses but are taking less action than their global counterparts.
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“Canadian CEOs recognize the need to innovate with the vast majority (75 per cent) saying they want a culture where failure in pursuit of innovation is tolerated,” said Peter Hughes, partner and digital services leader for KPMG.
“But barely half (56 per cent) say that this culture is in place.
“Interestingly, CEOs are not as focused on being the disruptor in their industry as they were a year ago. Today 69 per cent have set that as a goal, which is down from 96 per cent in 2018. However, 73 per cent of Canadian CEOs are confident in their ability to stay competitive in the face of disruption.”
– Mario Toneguzzi
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