The CEO Briefing 2014 report highlights increasing optimism among business leaders for their local economies and core industry, and strong confidence in the prospects for their own business in 2014. Although, optimism for the global economy overall is a little more muted with the emergence of some new risk factors taking us beyond the recent concerns with uncertainty.

The corporate mood is lifting. Although the deep recession that has affected economies around the globe since 2008 has not fully faded from view, optimism prevails, with companies expressing significant confidence in the outlook for their organisations. Digital technologies are widely acknowledged as being transformational. However, while executives at most companies are looking to offer new products in new markets, not many are making a link to digital technologies as tools to grow. Nearly two-thirds of companies are still primarily focused on using technology to cut costs and drive efficiency.

The CEO Briefing 2014 examines how senior executives view the prospects for the global economy and for their own businesses, as well as trends in global governance and the ways in which technology is transforming business. This report presents the findings of an executive survey conducted during the fourth quarter of 2013, the latest Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) forecasts, and further insights
into the key issues.