The Asian economy tells a compelling story — one that is resilient, transformative, and shaping the global economic landscape. Such story is carried by executives who see 2025 as another year poised for economic growth, filled with optimism and reinvention, as reflected in recent reports.
In PricewaterhouseCooper’s (PwC) 28th Annual Global CEO Survey — Asia-Pacific, about 55% of leaders expect notable progress in the economy compared to last year. This confidence is reflected in their business outlook, with 34% confident in their revenue growth projections and 46% planning to increase hiring this year.
While the region shows positive signs for economic growth, there’s also a cloud of uncertainty that could complicate its outlook. The report highlighted top concerns such as macroeconomic volatility (rising from 21% to 32%) and the low availability of workers with skills (increasing to 25%). Other risks include technological disruptions, rising trade tensions, and severe weather conditions, among others.
Business reinvention
Given such an environment, CEOs are driven to lead reinventions in businesses. According to PwC, business reinventions are “radically transforming how a company creates, delivers, and captures value. Or, put another way, it’s how a company fundamentally changes how it makes money, serves customers, or provides new products or services.” This reinvention is imperative for advancing businesses, leveraging innovation, unlocking new value and opportunities that are key to business longevity.
Many are confident about their company’s viability, with 52% believing they will last for more than 10 years, which is a substantial increase from the 34% in 2024. Mirroring the growing confidence, the last five years have seen CEOs take reinvention actions such as targeting a new consumer base, developing innovative products or services, fostering organizational collaborations, exploring new market routes, and implementing new pricing models.
By staying ahead with the curve, organizations are turning economic uncertainties into growth opportunities that create long-lasting value.
Upskilling employees
Having a strategic vision and investing in the workforce is considered as an essential driver of growth. An example of this undertaking is upskilling employees to keep pace with technological advancements.
According to Ernst & Young’s (EY) CEO Outlook Survey: Global Confidence Index, 85% of global CEOs believe that balancing human talent with new technologies can address the current skill gaps and will be crucial for business growth in the next year.
More notably, key differences in priorities among CEOs were observed: 60% were focused on improving employee and customer experiences, while 40% prioritized top-line growth and margin expansion.
“Adaptability is the ultimate advantage in today’s landscape. Organizations that embrace transformation can turn disruption into opportunity, continuously learning, pivoting and growing to shape their future with confidence. The survey reveals that the most confident CEOs are taking a long-term approach to transformation, focusing on enhancing customer and employee engagement amid macroeconomic and technological shifts, and always placing humans at the center as the best path to sustainable value creation,” an EY report noted.
Digital transformation
The push for digital transformation continues to significantly influence businesses, impacting both strategies and operations. In Asia, there’s a strong emphasis on investing in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to reshape business models. This shift led to increased revenue and employee efficiency among businesses.
According to EY’s CEO Outlook — Asia-Pacific report, 74% of CEOs believe their companies are extremely or very proficient in leveraging technologies to enhance innovative work strategies, and 72% feel confident in their ability to rapidly adopt technologies to create new business models.
However, trust issues around AI still persist, as evidenced by the low trust levels (37%) among executives. As a result, as PwC’s report noted, many organizations are adopting a more cautious approach.
To move past AI challenges, CEOs should prioritize aligning AI with their business strategies. This involves equipping leadership teams with the necessary knowledge and tools, ensuring AI aligns with company initiatives and objectives, utilizing AI agents, redesigning operating models, and implementing responsible AI practices.
“Today you have high AI potential and a significant level of investment, but not a lot of value being unlocked. Meaningful AI value will only be realized if CEOs get personally involved, because only they can align the AI agenda to the broader enterprise agenda,” said Nicolas de Bellefonds, a managing director and senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in an article published on the firm’s website.
Sustainability as growth opportunity
Placing sustainability at the heart of business operations and transforming it into a valuable opportunity is another key aspect of business reinvention. An increasing number of leaders are recognizing the critical role that sustainability plays, with 39% already seeing real gains from climate-friendly investments, according to PwC.
“Climate considerations are no longer just about meeting stakeholder expectations — they’re becoming a cornerstone of investment. A substantial 87% of CEOs have initiated climate-friendly investments in the last five years,” the report pointed out.
“It appears that companies in Asia-Pacific that benefited financially from climate-friendly investments tend to be large, financially robust and strategically focused on sustainability and reinvention,” it added.
However, the reality remains unpleasantly clear; and if climate action continues to lag, the climate is likely to become more volatile and extreme. Therefore, it is only crucial to accelerate the pace of climate action.
More specifically, companies can face significant financial risks when they are impacted by extreme climate events. This risk is particularly high for sectors such as agriculture, construction, communication, and utilities.
“BCG and the World Economic Forum estimate that if global warming stays on its current trajectory, extreme weather could place up to 25% of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) at risk within the next 25 years,” BCG’s report said.
“While physical and transition risks will vary depending on the region and industry, it is imperative that CEOs fully understand their current exposure — an area where many appear to be falling short,” it added.
“By our analysis, many companies are significantly underestimating the risks from climate change, especially as catastrophic floods, hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires continue to become more frequent and extreme.”
CEOs, then, have a bigger role to play in mitigating risks and accelerating climate action. Assessing climate scenarios and identifying the best strategies to reduce their companies’ exposure to risk is essential. Additionally, they should focus on reducing carbon footprints, especially to those in high-emission industries, and forming partnerships to drive green initiatives forward. — Angela Kiara S. Brillantes
