Irish Business Confidence is Growing

While business leaders are much more optimistic about growth than they were last year, many are conscious of risks like skill gaps, economic volatility, and technological disruption.

By Maggie Mancini

Almost three-quarters (74%) of Irish CEOs expect Ireland’s economic growth to improve over the next 12 months, up from 50% last year, according to a new survey from PwC. At the same time, 62% of Irish business leaders believe global economic growth will improve, up from 35% last year. Most (93%) are confident about their company’s revenue prospects for the year ahead, up from 86% last year. This compares to recent all-time lows in 2020—when just 16% of CEOs expected the economy to grow.  

Globally, 58% of CEOs expect the global economy to improve in the year ahead, up from 38% last year; 91% of global CEOs are confident about their company’s future revenue prospects.  

The survey also finds that 45% of Irish CEOs expect headcount to increase by 5% or more in the next 12 months—while down from 53% last year, this is nearly four times the proportion who expect headcount decreases (12%).  

While Irish CEOs are much more optimistic about economic growth than they were a year ago, they are conscious of the risks. There are high levels of concern about a few threats as the global landscape is shifting at an unprecedented rate: Macroeconomic volatility is the top risk (93%), followed by lower availability of workers with key skills (91%). Other top risks include inflation (89%), geopolitical conflict (88%), cyber threats (88%), and technology disruption (87%). Nearly two-third (62%) of Irish business leaders are concerned about social inequality, up from 47% a year ago.  

Nearly three out of ten (29%) Irish CEOs believe that their company will not be viable beyond the next decade if it continues on its current path, up from 21% two years ago. 

Irish CEOs, like their global counterparts, are taking action—84% of Irish business leaders have taken at least one significant action to change how their company creates, delivers, and captures value in the last five years. Globally, there is a clear link between the number of reinvention actions taken and higher profit margins.  

However, the survey suggests that the pace of reinvention needs to quicken. A mindset shift on reinventing business models for the long-term good of the organisation is needed. For example, less than a third (32%) of Irish business leaders say that they have begun competing in at least one new sector or industry in the last five years. Key new industries or sectors they are competing in include technology, business services and health services.   

Dynamic resource reallocation is crucial for strategic reinvention. Yet, the survey further highlights that a significant proportion of businesses lack agility. For example, when it comes to moving resources between projects, over half (54%) of Irish CEOs told us that they had reallocated just 10% or less of financial and human resources in the last year; Nearly three-quarters (74%) reallocated just 20% or less.