Accenture Report
Accenture has released a new report named Bold Moves in Tough Times, in which two-thirds (66 percent) of global business leaders are optimistic about the European market’s recovering relatively quickly from the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The survey found that about 3 in 10 respondents (29 percent) expected a fairly rapid recovery in Europe (” V-shaped “); Thirty-seven percent expected a slow but steady “U-shaped” recovery over the next 12 months.
The most optimistic sector was pharmaceuticals/biotechnology/life sciences, with 34 percent of business leaders in the sector expecting an increase in demand as a result of the pandemic in Europe. The second most optimistic sector was communications, media, and entertainment, with 52 percent of respondents expecting a V-shaped recovery in their European markets. The following one is insurance (47%). While only 7% of respondents in the auto/travel/transportation sector expected a rapid recovery, and 12% in the airline/travel/transportation sector respectively.
European executives run the risk of being overly cautious about how to prepare for a rebound compared with their counterparts in North America and the Asia-Pacific region. Specifically, European executives seem more likely to:
- Focus on incremental rather than game rules-changing innovation: more than half of the European respondents (53%) are slowing investment in innovation and will not restart any programs in the next six months; By contrast, the statistics are 33 percent in North America and 49 percent in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Underinvesting in the future: in Europe, only about one in seven companies (16%) have invested in plans to prepare for a rebound; By contrast, one in four companies in the Asia-Pacific region (25%) and one in three in North America (34%).
- Less likely to cooperate: European business leaders were slightly less likely to cooperate with other companies to mitigate the impact of the crisis than their North American and Asia-Pacific counterparts (48% in Europe, 53% in North America, and 55% in Asia-Pacific).
Download the Report from Accenture: Bold Moves in Tough Times
