C-Suite Priorities for 2025: Insights from Executives in China

04 March 2025 / Report

The Conference Board’s 2025 global C-Suite Outlook shows that, in the face of rising economic and geopolitical challenges, companies in China are making use of technological advances and innovation –including AI – to drive performance and grow profits. Besides signaling their readiness to accept and leverage technological transformation and disruption, this also suggests a continued commitment to the China market.

Key Insights

Leveraging technology and innovation – including Artificial Intelligence (AI) – emerges as the paramount strategy for companies in China to drive profit growth against the backdrop of weak economic momentum at home and rising geopolitical volatility. The responses from C-level executives in China† (“China C-Suites”) suggest that this will help generate productivity and sustainability dividends, strengthen risk management, improve talent, and optimize performance.
A majority (64.9%) of China C-Suites expect Sino-Western tensions to have a significant impact on business operations in 2025. Not only has this already affected the costs and operational efficiency of multinationals in China, and their alignment with head offices, but it has the potential to deteriorate regional stability and exacerbate trade wars.
Faced with the possibility of global trade disruption, a majority of C-Suites in China (92.7%) say their company plans to alter their supply chains in the next three-to five years. They identify the main drivers of change as a desire to lower the risk of disruption and contain costs. However, few say they will move their operations out of China (possibly to avoid tariffs) or reshore or friend-shore production.
The probability of an economic downturn/recession is the top high-impact economic concern for China C-Suites, followed by inflation and financial disruptions. National debt levels are also a concern.
More than half of respondents anticipate that shifting consumer behaviors will have a significant impact on their businesses this year. Our conversations with China-based senior executives reveal that customers in China are more price-sensitive than ever, opting for less expensive alternatives to the goods and services they used to buy.
Sustainability is top-of-mind for a considerable proportion of China C-Suites. It is seen as an issue that will have a significant business impact, likely reflecting: (i) pressures from stakeholders, society, and regulations; and (ii) emerging opportunities thanks to industrial policy objectives, clean technology advancements, and renewable energy.
Despite the benefits of AI, China C-Suites note that its implementation faces significant challenges, including tighter regulations on all data-handling activities, ensuring that data inputs and AI outputs are high quality, and that the amount of data utilized is manageable. Indeed, although the potential of AI to drive corporate performance has become clearer in recent years, it remains far from being entirely dependable.
While cost cutting ranks high in the list of priorities for China C-Suites, only a small minority of respondents intends to achieve this by reducing headcount. Instead, in order to contribute to driving operational efficiency, almost 30% say that their companies will leverage AI and automation, while nearly 20% emphasize upskilling and reskilling initiatives. Another 34% report a focus on attracting and retaining talent.