Geopolitical conflict risks constitute the top worry among Taiwan’s chief executive officers, far higher than their global and Asia-Pacific peers, as their concerns over inflation ease, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Taiwan said yesterday, citing an annual worldwide survey of CEOs.
Globally, 38 percent of CEOs are expecting improved economic growth this year, while the proportion rises to 40 percent among Asia-Pacific counterparts and up to 48 percent among local business leaders, according to the survey that gathered responses from 4,702 CEOs worldwide.
The sentiment findings on economic outlook suggested a pickup of double percentage points from last year as global monetary tightening and inventory adjustments come to an end, the consultancy firm said, pointing out that the uptick reached 30 percent in Taiwan.
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Although business leaders are more optimistic about the economy, geopolitical conflicts remain one of the main threats and enterprises have begun to shift their global supply chains into regional supply chains to curtail risks and maintain normal operations, it said.
The survey showed that 39 percent of Taiwanese CEOs believed that geopolitical conflicts pose a major threat to their businesses, higher than their global and Asia-Pacific peers, both at 18 percent.
Against that backdrop, companies need to abandon old mindsets and chart out new organizational structures, and set up branch offices overseas with substantial operational functions when making regional deployments, PwC Taiwan chairman Joseph Chou (周建宏) said, adding that companies need to make the best use of digital tools, build multinational management teams and tap local talent pools toward that end.
The survey showed that CEOs have had mixed success at meeting their climate change-related objectives.
About 66 percent of the respondents said they have efforts underway to enhance energy efficiency and 10 percent said they have completed such initiatives.
About 50 percent of respondents indicated they have work in progress to innovate environment-friendly products or services.
The survey indicated that CEOs in western Europe are more likely to have energy efficiency and climate-oriented innovation initiatives in progress or completed, while CEOs everywhere else accept lower hurdle rates for climate-friendly investments.
Companies are stepping up efforts to move toward the target of net zero carbon emissions, but they face many challenges, the survey showed.
In Taiwan, 75 percent of respondents said “complicated regulations and frequent changes” pose the biggest challenges for companies to reduce carbon emissions, while low investment returns on climate-friendly investments and the lack of such technologies are serious hurdles, it said.
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