Slovak business leaders believe in their firms’ growth a little less than last year, but more than half of them are very confident that their organizations will grow again. However, Slovak leaders are cautious due to the current situation on the labour and real estate markets, and the number of mergers and acquisitions last year. More than half of them expect an economic crisis within 2 or 5 years, although one fifth of survey respondents do not anticipate an economic crisis as big as in 2008.
"Firms and economies are doing well but the right people with skills for the future are missing. Costs to attract, maintain and train right people have been increasing. The firms have become educational institutions while demand on appropriate working environment has grown. In good times we have to prepare on the future and build companies as interesting place for life."
The proportion of firms whose CEO is planning cost reductions has dramatically dropped in recent years. Only two years ago, two thirds of companies intended to cut costs, as against one in five this year. However, 62% of global CEOs are still planning to implement cost reduction initiatives.
Slovak CEOs are giving less consideration to strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing, and collaboration with external partners.
For several years, 90% of CEOs in the Slovak CEO survey have stated that law enforcement and the quality of education (at universities, secondary and vocational schools) are the biggest threats to doing business in Slovakia, and there has been no improvement in the CEOs’ perception in recent years. As for skills, graduates lack technical skills and to a lesser degree mathematical and language skills.
"Today, the tax burden is not the biggest threat. Companies face increasing pressure regarding transparency, including tax transparency, pressure to disclose ever more detailed information, frequent changes to the tax law, pressure to implement process automation and digitalization from tax authorities and to optimise their costs. In Slovakia, all this is accompanied by a high tax burden (taxes and mandatory payments to the social and health insurance scheme), which are among the highest in Europe. The cancellation of, or increase in, the upper limits for monthly contributions to social and health insurance will certainly not increase the country’s attractiveness for foreign investors. This measure was intended to create better conditions for production and services with higher added value, which the Slovak government promised in its programme statement, but it may prove to be counterproductive."
The 9th Annual Slovak CEO Survey was conducted by PwC, a consultancy firm, in cooperation with the Slovak edition of the Forbes Magazine. The CEOs contacted replied via an on-line or printed questionnaire from 5 December 2017 to 19 January 2018. 147 CEOs of companies operating in the Slovak market participated in the survey from various industries: financial services (banking & insurance), industrial manufacturing, construction, automotive, retail & distributive wholesale, consumer goods, transportation & logistics, information technology, telecommunications, energy & utilities, and other sectors.
The data for the 21st Annual Global CEO Survey was collected in October and November 2017. 1 293 CEOs participated in the survey and the results were published during The World Economic Forum in Davos held on 22 January 2018.