CXOs expect economy to bounce back in under 12 months

While both industry and business have been impacted negatively and the country’s GDP projected to be under 2 per cent in the current fiscal, corporate honchos expect the economy to bounce back in under 12 months. The good news is that only a fraction of CXOs are looking to lay off staff.

A majority of the CXOs are of opinion that the country would emerge stronger on back of MSME stimulus package, fiscal incentives and ‘Make in India’ policy among others, according to a study by Astrum, a specialist reputation management advisory.

CXO is a general term to collectively refer to corporate executives with titles such as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Technology Officer.

About 66 per cent believe that they will emerge stronger and smarter out of the crisis and 17 per cent believe that they will be back to where they were, according to the study.

 

The biggest challenge

CXOs felt the biggest challenge in this crisis was managing cash flows (47 per cent) and business continuity (28 per cent) followed by profitability (12 per cent), employee retention (7 per cent) and growth (6 per cent). The key lesson they learnt was that engaged employees (40 per cent) and crisis preparedness (31 per cent) are critical for success in difficult times.

Another interesting finding was that a strong reputation of the organisation helps weather the storm as employees, partners, other stakeholders in the ecosystem are more invested.

“It’s heartening to see the resilience and resolve of industry leaders to emerge stronger and smarter from the crisis,” Ashwani Singla, Founding Managing Partner of Astrum, said.

“The study points to a critical lack of crisis preparedness within the C Suite, with 3-out-of-5 executives stating that they were only ‘somewhat ready’ and ‘used their instincts to manage the situation, investing in a crisis preparedness exercise would serve them well to successfully negotiate unforeseen crises and emerge with a stronger reputation,” Singla added.

According to the study, as CXOs recalibrate in the new environment the priorities will be to redefine business strategy (55 per cent) followed by digitisation (55 per cent), trimming frill expenses (50 per cent) and innovating (47 per cent). Another area that ranks high on the consideration list will be re-evaluating business model.