By Business & Finance 
Pictured: Seamus Hand, Managing Partner, KPMG in Ireland
KPMG has launched its fifth CEO survey, the 2020 CEO Outlook, with results collated after interviews with hundreds of CEOs from many of the world’s largest companies including from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Seamus Hand, Managing Partner KPMG in Ireland said: “In just a few short months, the COVID-19 crisis has turned what in hindsight looked like a relatively positive economic outlook into one of significant uncertainty. It is making unprecedented demands on CEOs and the teams they lead. Where once the agenda was dominated by issues such as Brexit and the steadily increasing role of digital technology, business leaders in Ireland and around the world are now also having to accelerate or pivot their strategies as many business models become upended by the pandemic.”
Interviews took place first in January and then again in July and August, in order to fully understand how views and priorities had changed over the course of the year.
Results show that business confidence has declined steeply as the effects of the crisis impact on both global and national economies. However, the CEOs’ confidence in the businesses they lead remains resilient.
CEOs are accelerating plans for the digital transformation of their companies, they are looking to lock in the environmental gains brought about as a result of the crisis and critically, they are examining the purpose of the businesses they lead as their people, stakeholders and society at large looks to the role of business in helping resolve many of the challenges faced by society.
To read the KPMG 2020 CEO Outlook results, see here.
