Irish CEOs confident about business growth, despite risk of wide-scale business model disruption - PwC survey
95% of Irish business leaders are confident about their organisation’s revenue growth in the next twelve months. Geopolitical risk (41%) is the top threat for Irish businesses, followed by macro-economic volatility (28%) and climate risks (18%). Almost three-quarters (73%) of Irish business leaders are of the view that their organisation is impacted by business model disruption to a ‘large’ or ‘very large’ extent.
These are some of the key findings from PwC’s survey conducted at its inaugural Leadership Exchange Forum, held on Tuesday, 28 May, attended by over 400 senior Irish business leaders aiming to share the latest insights, trends and know-how to succeed in business.
Enda McDonagh, Managing Partner, PwC Ireland, said: “Despite business model disruption, the survey shows that Irish business leaders are confident about their organisation’s revenue growth and resilience. Business leaders recognise the need to be highly adaptable and adjust strategies to the pace and scale of change facing their businesses. In particular, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), climate change and transformation are high on the agenda as organisations look to boost performance, taking advantage of new technologies, such as AI and GenAI.”
According to the survey, the majority (55%) of Irish business leaders believe that ESG will be a source of competitive advantage for their organisation.
David McGee, ESG Leader, PwC Ireland, said: “The survey confirms that the majority of Irish business leaders recognise ESG initiatives to be a powerful source of competitive advantage. Prioritising long-term benefits over short-term gains is critical. But there is no time to lose. Organisations need to integrate sustainability into their strategy, measure progress and adapt continuously. The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is soon coming into force and will foster greater transparency, comparability and confidence in ESG data.”
The survey confirms that AI and Generative AI (GenAI) hold great promise. Almost all (98%) of the survey respondents believe that AI and GenAI can expedite transformation in their organisation over the next twelve months.
Amy Ball, Transformation Lead, PwC Ireland, said: “Business model disruption continues to be a challenge in the boardroom. We see more and more business leaders acknowledging the need to reinvent their businesses for sustained success. That includes embedding a culture of continuous innovation and using technology to transform the organisation, modernise legacy systems, enhance customer experiences and power data-driven decision-making. Real leadership skills are also needed to have all of the workforce moving in the same direction. It will also be important that AI and GenAI are responsibly deployed with human-centric outcomes.”
Pictured launching PwC's Leadership Exchange survey are PwC Ireland Partners (l-r) David McGee, ESG Leader; Trish Johnston, Assurance Leader; Amy Ball, Transformation Leader and Enda McDonagh, Managing Partner.