C-Suite Challenge^™ 2021: Leading in a Post-COVID-19 Recovery (China Edition)

In time, the global economy will recover from COVID-19, but it may be forever changed. The long-term impacts on the basics of business—how and where work gets done and by whom, what customers want and how they buy it, where and from whom should we source our inputs—require asking difficult questions. How should organizations plan resource allocation and investment decisions, address skill shortages, manage key talent, and innovate business models to best thrive in a post-pandemic world? And critically, how do you meet the increased expectations of leadership brought about by the changed realities of the pandemic?  

Since 1999, The Conference CEO Challenge® survey has asked CEOs across the globe to identify the most critical issues they face and their strategies to meet them. Last November, The Conference Board surveyed more than 1,500 business leaders globally, including almost 100 CEOs and C-Suite executives in China, and asked them to evaluate which external factors will have the greatest impact on their business in 2021, the internal strategies they intend to focus on to meet those challenges, the biggest obstacles they face in executing those strategies, and the most likely long-term impacts on business and society resulting from the pandemic. 

Their responses show that, in many instances, Chinese CEOs view the world, and the business challenges ahead, very differently than their global peers.