Industrial manufacturing CEOs confident of business growth

The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) 11th Annual Global CEO Survey also found the top three rated opportunities for contributing to this growth are new product development, geographic expansion and better penetration of existing markets.

The survey also found, however, that industry is currently facing a shortage of highly skilled and trained employees. This is clearly an area of concern, with 62 per cent of respondents anticipating that lack of availability of key skills will become worse and could pose a threat to business growth.

“This is a challenging time for Canadian manufacturers with pricing on goods continuing to decline due the rising Canadian dollar and with the lack of skilled labour companies are feeling the pinch,” says Dean Mullett, Canadian Leader Automotive and Industrial Products. “Manufacturing CEOs need to focus attention on investing in their people. Going global and driving technological innovation requires collaboration and strong skill sets. Industrial manufacturing companies need to be proactive in addressing people issues to succeed in the evolving world economy.”

Industrial manufacturing CEOs are also keenly aware of the importance of technological innovation with 75 per cent looking to it as a source of competitive advantage, compared with 65 per cent of respondents across all industries.