Trend Scanner | Reports

From cost to collaboration: Redefining the value chain

Outsourcing (both supply chain and traditional back office functions)1 has been a regular feature of business life for many years. Through their responses to this survey, CEOs have indicated a marked shift in their motivation for using external suppliers, from simply as a mechanism to lower cost to a means of achieving a more strategic, collaborative framework. In tandem, CEOs tell us of an increasing trend to expand the scope of activity that is covered by outsourcing arrangements, from the traditional component supplies and IT infrastructure to other activities that, in the past, were held sacrosanct, including human resource management (HRM) and R&D.

2007

10th Annual global CEO Survey

PWC

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Defining the role of business leaders in society: A business imperative

Ask a classically trained financial economist about the role of the company in society and the response is likely to be to maximise shareholder returns. The 10th Annual Global CEO Survey reinforces a growing recognition among academics and practitioners alike that this traditional view of the long-term objective of a company is too narrow; that to sustain long-term financial growth, management need to balance the needs of the shareholder against those of other stakeholders – most notably the employee and society.

2007

10th Annual global CEO Survey

PWC

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A New Optimism: Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies

Ask five experts to assess the global economy, and they are likely to provide as many different answers. Whether related to trade imbalances and currency fluctuations or to skyrocketing energy costs and increasing regulations, uncertainties abound. Yet the CEOs in this survey are optimistic about their prospects for growth and are investing today to secure future success. Is their optimism unbridled? No. It is an optimism grounded in reality and tempered by caution.

2005

8th Annual global CEO Survey

PWC

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GRC: Armed to Succeed or Behind the Curve?

In today’s global business environment, governance, risk management, and compliance form a triad that no CEO can afford to ignore. Costly? Yes. Onerous at times? Undoubtedly. But among the respondents are CEOs who are beginning to see GRC in a new light as an integrated set of concepts that can provide significant benefits for their organisations. Do such benefits come easily? Decidedly not. On one hand, the CEOs acknowledge that achieving effective GRC is a battle. On the other hand, they affirm that it is a battle worth waging.

2005

8th Annual global CEO Survey

PWC

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Achieving Higher Levels of Performance

Clearly, when it comes to effective GRC, some CEOs are doing better than others. What sets them apart? What gives them a distinct advantage over their peers? Emerging from the survey data are a group of CEOs who are taking GRC to a higher level. Both in implementing effective GRC and in reaping its benefits, they are pointing the way towards GRC excellence.

2005

8th Annual global CEO Survey

PWC

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Artificial intelligence

Software algorithms are automating complex decision-making tasks to mimic human thought processes and senses. Artificial intelligence (AI) is not a monolithic technology. A subset of AI, machine learning, focuses on the development of computer programs that can teach themselves to learn, understand, reason, plan, and act when blasted with data. Machine learning carries enormous potential for the creation of meaningful products and services — for example, hospitals using a library of scanned images to quickly and accurately detect and diagnose cancer; insurance companies digitally and automatically recognizing and assessing car damage; or security companies trading clunky typed passwords for voice recognition.

2017