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Australian CEOs confident about 2015: survey

Xinhua, January 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australia's top business leaders are more optimistic about business growth than their overseas counterparts and say they will hire more people in 2015, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers survey, 43 percent of Australian chief executive officers are very confident of growth in the next 12 months, up 9 percentage points from last year, compared with 39 percent of CEOs globally.

Of those surveyed, 55 percent are very confident of growth in the next three years, up 21 percentage points from the year before.

However, 60 percent of these business leaders say there are more threats to growth today than three years ago, highlighting over-regulation, the handling of Australia's debt burden and cyber security risks.

More than half the Australian CEOs expect to add to their headcount in the next 12 months. Only 12 percent plan to cut the size of their work force compared to 21 percent of their global peers.

Digital innovation and its impact on customer behavior is a particular concern with nine out of 10 CEOs in Australia saying it is the number one disruptive trend.

"Many companies today are becoming more and more like tech businesses, particularly when you consider how they interact with their customers and deliver goods and services," PwC Australia CEO Luke Sayers said in a statement.

"Australian CEOs have switched onto the fact that they don't need a digital strategy, they need a business strategy that's fit for the digital age." Endi