MBA Croatia Association is organizing a CEO Panel titled:
“What does 2022 bring us?”
Our panelists will be:
Mirsada Kudrić, General Manager of Robert Bosch d.o.o. in Croatia.
Ivan Franičević, President of the Management Board at company Rasco d.o.o.
Tomislav Glavaš, CEO of M+ Group.
What are the global CEO forecasts for 2022?
Covid-19 still dominates the agenda
What should be addressed and which things are of greatest concern, but also where optimism lies for 2022? The COVID-19 pandemic maintains a grip on the world with severe human and economic consequences; and as variants bring new uncertainties, society’s efforts to save lives and safeguard livelihoods should continue unabated. But innate to any crisis is the potential to fundamentally reshape a person, an economy, and possibly an entire society.
In the case of the pandemic, businesses have tried to cushion their employees, customers, and operations from the worst blows of the economic shocks and responded to COVID-19’s massive productivity accelerants and the disruptions under way.
e-commerce accelerates
On the other hand, e-commerce expanded, compressing ten years of growth into mere months. As a matter of necessity, digitization and automation grew across arenas from employee collaboration to customer channels to supply chains. The rapid shift to remote and hybrid work for some occupations opened the door to long-term workforce optimization, with more than half of executives reporting higher individual and team productivity through remote and hybrid models.
Investments and M&As to accelerate
Majority of CEOs said they are ready to accelerate plans for investment and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in their pursuit for growth. Following a record year that saw US$5t worth of M&A, transactions will remain a critical tool for CEOs in 2022 complementing other areas of investment.
Employment market still unstable
CEO investment plans, however, could be thrown off course due to external risks to their business. They continued to face pressure generated by the ongoing COVID pandemic and market conditions such as rising inflation, supply chain disruptions and the ‘Great Resignation’ in parts of the world.
Optimism high, but caution ahead
Asked to identify the top trends in the M&A market in 2022, CEOs said that they expect an increase in hostile and competitive bidding, private equity to be a major acquirer, an increase in cross-sector and cross-border deal making.
CEOs’ optimism is high for the most part, but they are also aware of potential threats that could impact their companies over the coming 12 months.
Sources:
PwC’s 25th Annual Global CEO Survey
The CEO agenda in 2022: Harnessing the potential of growth jolts
Over half of CEOs to step-up investment and M&A in 2022, but headwinds remain
Our panel will be held on Thursday, January 27th 2022 at the Hilton Garden Inn, Radnička 21, starting at 6 p.m.
See you there,
Your MBA Croatia.
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