Argentina CEOs confident of growth again

KPMG presents the results of the seventh edition of the “CEO Outlook 2021” global survey that collected the opinions of 1,325 global CEOs. It was conducted between July and August 2021 and included leaders from around the world from all eleven major markets (Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and 11 strategic industries.

The sample provides a detailed perspective on what CEOs of the world’s leading organizations think about business and economic growth for the next three years. For the fifth year in a row, the survey includes an Argentine branch with responses from 50 CEOs of companies operating in the country, who have identified themselves on major global and domestic issues.

Among the most important definitions of local leaders are:

• Argentine CEOs have restored confidence and growth prospects to pre-pandemic levels.
• They claim that while they monitor changes, they are working on plans to achieve their own growth goals.
• They highlight the importance of strategic alliances with third parties and organic growth, as well as advances in digitization and connectivity for all functional areas of their companies.
• They say they are protecting their supply chains so that they are more resistant to unexpected events in the future.
• They are making solid investments that focus primarily on digital opportunities.
• For the first time they seek to be annoying leaders of their sector and not be relegated to the rank of followers. Therefore, there is more investment in purchasing new technology, and collaboration with partners and suppliers will be essential to developing the digital resilience of your organization.
• Despite the standardization of remote work and a more flexible work system, the percentage of leaders who plan to reduce physical space in their companies is decreasing, as remote work has demonstrated the value that offices continue to contribute to the culture.
• Executive leaders are open to hiring remote talent and seeking shared office space, providing greater flexibility to their workforce and keeping them engaged, motivated and productive in the mixed world of work, as well as motivating employees to retain and/or attract new talent.

For Nestor Garcia, President and CEO of KPMG Argentina, “This year’s survey reflects that CEOs focus on staying connected, putting people first, and aiming to grow their organizations with a sustainable outlook. Leaders monitor changes, but also work on their strategies to achieve their growth goals, and also with the challenge of leveraging and connecting these initiatives to meet stakeholder needs and generate long-term value.”

“CEOs see their companies play an increasingly important role in addressing global challenges, from income inequality to climate change, but not just from a business perspective, they must increasingly engage as responsible leaders. To drive this progress. They seek to address areas of Others are outside the scope of companies, as actors in society, so their ESG programs remain a priority in strategy and take center stage in their agendas Build a program focused on sustainability and include environmental, social and corporate governance aspects, but also consider other aspects such as diversity inequality and the protection of the planet, they are necessary for them, ” pointing to.

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Economic outlook and business confidence

• Confidence about growth prospects has increased and the next three years look promising for CEOs.
• 94% of local CEOs have confidence in the country’s growth prospects. 98% on your sector growth and 92% on your company.
• 74% believe that their income growth will not be more than 5%.
• For 28%, the main strategy for achieving their organization’s growth goals over the next three years will be strategic alliances with third parties.
• The operational priority will be advances in digitization and connectivity in all functional areas.
• There is consensus on the hypothesis that there is no single risk. New underlying risks are beginning to appear on the CEO’s agenda. Such as supply chain risk and talent risk.
• 86% consider protecting their strategic partners’ ecosystem and supply chain to be as important as building their organization’s cyber defense.

Purpose of ESG Trust and ESG

• Local CEOs feel a strong connection to their company’s purpose, which they consider to be an essential component that drives business value.
• 94% of CEOs believe their companies use a corporate purpose to help drive actions that meet shareholder needs. 76% feel that their emotional attachment to the goal has increased since the crisis began.
• 76% believe there is a high demand from investors, regulators and customers for more transparency and reporting on ESG issues.
• 92% fully agree that the focus of their ESG program has shifted toward the social component in response to the pandemic.
• 56% of managers consulted said their ESG programs improve the company’s financial performance.

Digital fitness and the future of work

• With normalcy slowly returning, and people returning to offices, CEOs are focusing more on flexibility, enhancing their organization’s digital advantage and maintaining changes being implemented in the company, which include remote work and flexible future hiring.
• 54% of them will seek to hire remote talent and focus efforts on developing a culture and policies that encourage a better work-life balance.
• 88% say they have a solid digital investment strategy to be a leader.
• 84% want to make sure that their company is the active disruptor of the sector in which they operate.
• 94% say their organization’s strategic digital investments are closely linked to ESG’s strategy.
• 82% of leaders believe that to keep pace with the accelerating pace of digital transformation, they will first need to address the depletion of their workforce to make it sustainable.
• The primary focus of executives is to ensure employee engagement, motivation, and productivity in a mixed work setting.