Despite Recession Fears, Qualtrics Research Shows Executives are Optimistic About Their Growth
C-suite leaders’ expectations for growth and revenue have increased since last summer as they invest for the long term
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83% of executives expect revenue to increase in the next 12 months -
92% of C-level executives are concerned about inflation or a recession -
56% of leaders say the business effects of COVID will continue beyond the end of 2022
“During downturns, organizations have to focus intensely on what’s most important,” said
Key Insights
Business leaders are concerned about the economy, but optimistic about the future of their own companies
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40% of leaders are concerned about stagflation–the combined effect of inflation and a recession–in the next 12 months. An additional34% are worried about inflation on its own, and18% are worried about a recession. -
In spite of these concerns,
83% of executives expect their companies’ revenue to increase over the next 12 months, and66% expect overall growth for their organizations. In 2021, these numbers were76% and59% , respectively.
Executives are making financial decisions for the long-term
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As organizations continue their digital transformations,
73% of C-suite leaders are planning to increase spending on technology modernization. -
72% of executives plan to increase spending on staffing and retaining their workforce, up from62% in 2021. -
Leaders are more likely to turn to short-term cost saving measures in case of a recession, such as reducing spending on customer-facing travel (
40% ), employee perks (40% ) and internal travel (36% ), rather than reducing hiring plans (4% ), downsizing their workforce (23% ), or reducing their real estate footprint (24% ).
The majority of leaders believe COVID will impact their business into 2023 and beyond
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38% say the pandemic fundamentally changed how they do business going forward, compared to42% last year. -
18% believe their business will still be impacted by COVID in 2023. -
Only
44% of leaders expect the business effects of COVID will be largely over by the end of the year, up slightly from39% a year ago. -
When asked about their priorities for this year and beyond, public health was the top priority with
40% of executives identifying it as a 2022 priority, up from35% in 2021.
|
2021 |
2022 |
Expect revenue to increase or increase significantly over the next 12 months |
|
|
Expect strong to very strong growth over next 12 months |
|
|
Overall, expect spending to increase or increase significantly |
|
|
Expect spending to increase or increase significantly on... |
|
|
...tech modernization |
|
|
...cybersecurity |
|
|
...staffing/retaining workforce |
|
|
...training/reskilling workforce |
|
|
...remote work support |
|
|
Expect the business impact of COVID... |
|
|
...will largely be over by the end of the current year |
|
|
...fundamentally changed how they do business |
|
|
...will still be impacting their business in the next year |
|
|
Customers will become more demanding in the next 3 months |
|
|
Employees will become more demanding in the next 3 months |
|
|
Methodology
This study was fielded in
About
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220706005258/en/
press@qualtrics.com
Source: