Study: Romanian CEOs, more optimistic than global counterparts, but 'out of touch with global growth perspectives'

Romanian CEOs are more optimistic than CEOs from elsewhere in the world about their companies’ prospects to grow revenues, according to the results of this year’s edition of the Romania CEO Survey issued by PwC. They are however concerned with the uncertain or volatile economic growth, the Government’s response to fiscal deficit and debt burden and exchange rate volatility. They expect changes in their strategies when it comes to increasing the customer base, retaining customers, talent management and organizational structure, and plan to focus on strengthening the relations with clients, suppliers, public authorities, the media and the local communities. The recent survey shows that 42 percent of the respondents said they are very confident in their company’s growth during the next year and 60 percent of CEOs share this opinion when it comes to growth perspectives for the next three years. These results are better than the global level results, of 36 percent and 46 percent respectively. “This optimism seems somewhat out of touch with the global growth perspectives, as opinions on the general economic situation are rather reserved. Romanian CEOs show that they learned to rely only on themselves in order to generate revenue growth in the current economic environment”, said Vasile Iuga, Country Managing Partner with PwC Romania. CEOs in Romania are rather optimistic when it comes to the perspectives of increasing the nuymber of employees for their companies over the next 12 months. Thee quarters of the Romanian respondents consider employees (including unions) to be a category of stakeholders with significant influence on their business strategy, lower than 83 percent globally. The constant shifts in consumer spending and behavior are seen by the Romanian CEOs as one of the main threats to their business’ growth perspectives, with 58 percent of them mentioning it. The majority of Romanian respondents – 89 percent - believe that the Government and the regulatory authorities are amongst the most important stakeholders for their companies, in line with the global average of 85 percent. Most CEOs expect the Government to improve the national infrastructure (82 percent), expect public authorities to ensure the stability of the financial system (67 percent) and to invest in the educational system in order to secure a well-prepared workforce (44 percent), according to the PwC study. “After many years of painful readjustments, Romania seems to have regained its macroeconomic stability. On the road to recovery, Romania is like a marathon runner that has gone half-way through the race, but the finish line is still not in sight. Yet, now is the most important moment to continue the structural reforms needed in order to transform the current crisis in an opportunity to realign the economy on healthy grounds”, added Vasile Iuga. For the Global CEO Survey, PwC conducted a total of 1,330 interviews with CEOs in 68 countries during the fourth trimester of 2012. There were 55 interviews conducted in Romania.