PwC at Davos 2012: Access the webcast
What's on the minds of over 1,200 CEOs around the world? Find out by watching the replay of the live webcast from Davos
On Tuesday 24 January, Chairman of the PwC network Dennis Nally revealed the results of PwC's 15th Annual Global CEO Survey at a press conference held on the eve of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. The annual survey of over 1,200 CEOs worldwide sheds light on the key opportunities and challenges facing businesses today.
Updates from Davos
Latest update: 27 Jan, 10.14am CET
Assessing future trends for financial services
By day three in Davos, most are feeling the strain of long days and late nights so it was good to see so many not-so-bright-eyed but enthusiastic participants at PwC's financial services breakfast. As Ian Powell, Chairman and Senior Partner of PwC UK, put it, sorting out the global financial sector at 7.00am in a restaurant called Romeo and Julia was a pretty ambitious goal. While the first coffee of the day started to take effect, Andrew Dawson, PwC UK, took the group through some of the future trends the financial sector faces. With familiar faces from banking, insurance and investors in the room, people were clearly interested in longer-term and emerging risks. Though as one of the participants pithily put it, while risk can spell opportunity for business, policy-makers see risk as something to eradicate. As the croissant crumbs were dusted off, people may not have come up with solutions to today’s problems, but they definitely left better equipped to deal with the future.
Previous updates
26 Jan, 3.11pm CET
..is resource scarcity a ticking time bomb?
What do a Dutch prince, a top political risk guru and a large group of Davos participants have in common? Quite a lot when it comes to concerns about resource scarcity. The bustle around the buffet was nothing in comparison to the energy and passion of the lunchtime discussion on the challenges of resource scarcity for business. Opening the discussion, Ian Bremmer of Eurasia, pointed out that while a PwC survey showed that CEOs put resource scarcity at the top of their risk concerns, it appeared very low on their action and strategy agenda. With mostly business people in the room, the conversation focused on solutions which are not only about technology and markets, but also about making all concerned realise that everyone can benefit from lowering political risks to better manage resources. The conversations were still going strong as time ran out. Let’s hope this is one issue where people are not working against the clock.
26 Jan, 9.37am CET
CEOs discuss findings from the recently launched CEO Survey over breakfast
Bright and early was the mood of this year’s CEO breakfast, hosted by Dennis Nally and PwC partners from the UK, US, Germany and Switzerland. Over Swiss muesli and croissants, a keen group of CEOs from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the US and Europe filled the restaurant to tackle topics such as growing globally, managing talent, embracing volatility, and innovation. The one certainty in the midst of so much uncertainty is that there's not enough talent – anywhere. All present agreed that securing the right people was critical to be able to reach new markets. The big story from a leading broadcaster present was that 2012 could be a very big news story year indeed — so get ready to embrace volatility!
25 Jan, 3.48pm CET
Cyber-security – delusions of safety and the cyber-savvy CEO?
Though not the most appetising topic for lunch, PwC's cyber-security meeting drew a full house. And full house is an apt description, given the theatrical approach used to illustrate the perils of ignoring cyber-security. For the participants from leading IT, finance and media companies, the rustic, Swiss-chalet style restaurant became the setting for a high-tech corporate espionage scenario, with a group of actors playing the beleaguered board members who had to respond to a cyber-security breach. As the drama unfolded, the dialogue and events felt uncomfortably close to reality, as the 'board’s' reaction went from mild concern to full-on crisis mode. As the final act, the lunch conversation showed that, when it comes to cyber-security, not being prepared is the biggest risk of all.
24 Jan, 8.13PM CET
Our Thought Café gets the discussion underway
PwC’s Thought Café was thronged for the launch of the 15th Annual Global CEO survey. An international — and very Davos — mix of journalists enjoyed the pre-launch drinks and canapés, as they mulled over copies of the survey findings and chatted with PwC partners. Familiar faces were plenty: the BBC (including star anchor Nik Gowing), the Financial Times, The Guardian, O Global, Handelsblatt, Die Welt, China Business News, New Dehli TV and the Huffington Post were all represented. Dennis Nally got things off to a prompt start, diving straight into the key messages from this year’s survey. The questions then came thick and fast. The first went straight to the core message — why such a big decline in CEO confidence globally and even in strong growth economies such as China and India? Dennis Nally fielded well over a dozen, often tough, questions, ranging from how CEOs view government austerity plans to how talent shortages and high unemployment can co-exist. The questions continued even after the time ran out and as the last of the canapés were consumed…
23 Jan, 2.30 PM CET
Coming soon...
From 25 - 29 January, key players from the world of business, government, academia and media will be gathering in Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting. PwC plays an active part in many of the formal meeting sessions and discussions which take place, as well as hosting a number of our own events. Learn more about how we contribute to the debate through our videos and updates which we'll be posting here throughout the meeting.
