Confident, agile, resilient – Australian CEOs set for the future Australian CEO perspectives from KPMG’s 2019 Global CEO Outlook
Australian CEOs are more upbeat in their outlook than their overseas counterparts, and topics such as the need for agility and up-skilling, adapting to climate change, satisfying customers and handling the digital revolution are central to their thinking. To meet these challenges, Australian CEOs are taking a fresh approach – being willing to disrupt, form new strategic partnerships, focusing on M&A strategies, and boosting the skills of their human and robotic workforces to be fit for the future.
Home confidence up, global down
are very confident in growth prospects for Australia over the next 3 years, compared to 20% in 2018.
But confidence in the global economy has moderated – with just 12% very confident in 2019, compared to 30% in 2018.44% 12%
44% 2019
20% 2018
12% 2019
30% 2018
Economy
44%
© 2019 KPMG, an Australian partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights
reserved. The KPMG name and logo and are registered trademarks or trademarks of KPMG International. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.June 2019 349794841FIRM.
Deliberate disruptors
Agility is the new currency of business, and if they are too slow, they’ll soon be bankrupt.
Boosting C-suite quality
They need to improve innovation processes and execution.
strongly agree and 46% agree that they are proactively disrupting their sector, up from 6% strongly agree and 26% agree in 2018.
Strongly agree
18% 46% 18% 2019
6% 2018
Agree
46% 2019
26% 2018
Agility
Resilience and up-skilling
24% 56%
18%
Strongly agree
Agree 20% 42%
38% 38% Strongly agree
Agree
Strongly agree
Agree
CEOs are actively transforming their leadership team to strengthen resilience.
© 2019 KPMG, an Australian partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights
reserved. The KPMG name and logo and are registered trademarks or trademarks of KPMG International. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.June 2019 349794841FIRM.
Teaming up to transform Talent hard to find
said strategic alliances were their key growth strategy, followed by 26% organic growth.
are set to up-skill 41-50% of their workforce in digital capabilities.
Meeting society’s expectations
Climate change
38%
62%
36% 62%
62% 2019
35% 2018
said M&A appetite was driven by the need for transformation.
20% Strongly agree
24% Strongly agree
42% Agree
38% Agree
It is challenging to find the workers they need.
28%
It is the CEO’s personal responsibility to ensure their company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies reflect the values of its customers.
48% Agree
see climate change risk as the
greatest threat to growth.
Climate change poses challenges
Business growth will be determined by the ability to navigate the global shift to a low-carbon, clean technology economy.
22% Strongly agree
© 2019 KPMG, an Australian partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights
reserved. The KPMG name and logo and are registered trademarks or trademarks of KPMG International. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.June 2019 349794841FIRM.
Getting better connected
Improving understanding of customers
Customer
CEOs believe they could significantly improve understanding of their customers.
50% Agree
36% Strongly agree
40% Strongly agree
32% Strongly agree
18% Strongly agree
30% Agree
34% Agree
32% Agree
Clouds on the horizon
Technology
26% Strongly agree
16% Strongly agree
42% Agree
42% Agree
CEOs are more confident about increasing the use of cloud technologies.
CEOs have concerns about migrating business data to the cloud.
CEOs are responsible for connecting the front, middle and back offices to build a ‘connected enterprise’.
A connected enterprise creates a stronger brand experience for customers.
Investments in personalising the customer experience have not had the growth benefits they hoped.
This was a leap from 2018, in which 2% strongly agreed and 32% agreed.
© 2019 KPMG, an Australian partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights
reserved. The KPMG name and logo and are registered trademarks or trademarks of KPMG International. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.June 2019 349794841FIRM.
Machines taking charge
Braced for cyber-attack
44% are piloting and 48% are beginning implementation of the automation of their processes.
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© 2019 KPMG, an Australian partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
The KPMG name and logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of KPMG International.
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.
June 2019. 349794841FIRM
KPMG.com.au
44% piloting automation
48% beginning automation
Strongly agree
16% 26% 16% 2019
4% 2018
Agree
26% 2019
58% 2018
Very well prepared
24% 52% 24% 2019
12% 2018
Well prepared
52% 2019
48% 2018
Becoming a victim of a cyber-attack is now a case of ‘when’ not ‘if’.
The level of cyber-attack preparation is varied.
For the full 2019 Global CEO Outlook report, visit our website.
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