KUALA LUMPUR: 43 per cent of Malaysia's chief executive officers (CEOs) believe their organisations will not be economically viable in10 years, despite reinvention efforts.
This was based on findings from PwC's 27th Annual Global CEO Survey (Malaysia).
The year's survey polled 4,702 CEOs across 105 countries and territories from Oct 2, through Nov 10, 2023.
CEOs in Malaysia are slightly more optimistic about the economic outlook this year compared with last year.
Yet, confidence is fragile as megatrends, including technological disruption and the climate transition converge. Facing an uphill battle, 93 per cent of Malaysia CEOs report taking at least some steps to change how they create, deliver and capture value over the past five years.
Over that timeframe, 77 per cent took at least one action that had a large or very large impact on their company's business model.
70 per cent of Malaysia CEOs cite the lack of skills in their company's workforce and two-thirds (64 per cent) point to the lack of technological capabilities. This suggests that the workforce remains at the centre of reinvention, in an increasingly digitalised economy and sectors where digital transformation is pivotal. Urgent action by businesses is needed to address the persistent and widening skill gap.
While economic outlook pessimism has reduced among Malaysia CEOs, concerns about macroeconomic volatility (30 per cent) and inflation (27 per cent) persist in the next 12 months.
"Amidst the optimism surrounding global economic prospects, the delicate confidence among CEOs show that the continued viability of the organisation rests on the efforts of all layers of business."
"The stakes are high: the reinvention mandate needs to consider technological disruption in the form of generative AI (GenAI) and climate change challenges among other issues. The answers to these megatrends may not yet exist. This opens up meaningful opportunities and collaborative ecosystems for public-private partnerships to tackle complex societal challenges like cybersecurity and workforce skills needs," PwC Malaysia managing partner Soo Hoo Khoon Yean said in a statement.
Notably, cyber risks have heightened among Malaysia CEOs, rising from 11 per cent to 23 per cent in the past year. This suggests an increasing importance of cybersecurity in business innovation and reinvention in the country.
Cybersecurity risks are a substantial concern for CEOs in Malaysia (73 per cent), exceeding their global (64 per cent) and Asia Pacific (49 per cent) counterparts' averages when assessing GenAI-associated risks.
On the other hand, 41 per cent of Malaysia CEOs foresee substantial impacts on their companies, workforce and markets within the next three years. In particular, 82 per cent anticipate the need for workforce skills acquisition in response to GenAI advancement, surpassing global (69 per cent) and Asia Pacific (76 per cent) figures. Despite this awareness, half of CEOs in Malaysia surveyed admit to not having adopted GenAI across their companies in the past 12 months.