The
pandemic sweeping the world has killed nearly 180,000 people,
routed financial markets and could trigger the worst economic
meltdown since the 1930s Great Depression.
Around 60% of chief executives are preparing for a U-shaped
recovery - a long period between recession and an upturn -
compared with 22% who predict a double-dip recession, according
to an April 15-19 poll of 3,534 chief executives from 109
countries conducted by YPO, a business leadership network.
The survey found that 11% of chief executives see coronavirus as
a risk to the survival of their firm, while a further 40% say
the pandemic poses a severe threat.
"We have not seen a crisis like this for over a hundred years,
and some household names will not survive," said Glenn Keys,
Executive Chairman of Aspen Medical, a Sydney-based health
services firm and YPO member.
Business leaders in the hospitality and restaurant sectors were
the most vulnerable with 41% of executives saying their firms
were at risk of not surviving, while 30% in aviation and 19% in
wholesale and retail sales feared they may go under, the survey
found.
There are some beneficiaries, with 10% of sector-specific retail
and wholesale leaders as well as heads of production firms in
agriculture, factories, mines and utilities reporting a positive
impact to their revenue.
However, most chief executives expect things to get worse before
they get better.
Almost two-thirds of business leaders forecast a negative impact
on earnings to continue for more than a year, while a quarter
expect their workforce to be down by more than 20% a year from
now.
"Across the globe, the mindset of the business leader is clearly
that the world has changed in a very short space of time," said
Scott Mordell, YPO's chief executive.
"We are in unchartered waters, filled with an unprecedented
number of pitfalls, that are challenging some businesses' very
existence."
(Reporting by Joe Brock, Editing by William Maclean & Shri
Navaratnam)
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