KPMG noted that the overall sentiment in German boardrooms continues to get worse: around 72 percent of CEOs in the leading European economy still expect growth for their firm in the next 3 years – which is a low compared to 77 percent reported in the past year, 80 percent in 2023 and even 90 percent back in 2022. But it is not entirely clear exactly how these stats were compiled and may only provide a rough estimate at best.
According to the insights from KPMG, international executives are more optimistic: nearly 80 percent of them now expect their firms to expand operations during the same period.
Meanwhile, the ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty is forcing many firms to realign their growth strategies: Over half of German CEOs see significant takeovers as a “likely step and are focusing on artificial intelligence for greater efficiency and profitability.”
This is indicated by recent the KPMG CEO Outlook 2025, for which 1,350 business professionals worldwide were surveyed (which also reportedly includes 125 CEOs from Germany).
The overall confidence among German CEOs is falling across all the growth expectations surveyed: for the first time in years, the study “recorded a decline in global economy, own industry, own country and own company.”
Just 64 percent of respondents still expect “the global economy to grow in the medium term, while the figure for their own industry has fallen to 71 percent.”
With regard to Germany, only “75 percent of CEOs still expect the domestic economy to continue to grow in the next three years.”
Digital transformation remains a pressing challenge: for “77 percent of German CEOs, cybercrime and cyber insecurity, for 76 percent the successful integration of AI into business processes and for 72 percent the training of their own workforce in dealing with AI are key areas of action.”
Additionally, around “77 percent see higher costs, 63 percent geopolitical conflicts and 62 percent increasing regulation as major challenges. Companies therefore have to act on many fronts at the same time.”
As a result of these pressures, all CEOs in Germany have “adjusted or are planning to adjust their growth strategy: 82 percent of German companies have already made adjustments and a further 18 percent intend to follow suit.”
Globally, the figures are 72 percent and 28 percent respectively. A visible expression of this realignment is “the increased willingness to make acquisitions: 58 percent of German CEOs consider takeovers to be likely, which will have a impact on their company – last year, 40 percent stated this in Germany, while the global average for 2025 is 41 percent.”
Personnel planning is changing as well, but despite weak growth expectations, the majority of CEOs continue “to focus on expanding their workforce: 86 percent of German CEOs want to create additional jobs in the next three years – among them, 40 percent even expect an increase in personnel of more than 5 percent.”
German CEOs are more skeptical about their “growth prospects compared to their international counter-parts.” Despite this, they are not “remaining passive, but are actively shaping the transformation.” They are investing in artificial intelligence, developing “new skills and showing an increased willingness to make ac-quisitions.”
For the “KPMG CEO Outlook 2025”, 1,350 CEOs of large companies worldwide were surveyed in August and September of this year. The research study covers eleven key industries and includes “executives from Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK and the USA.”
The firms have reported an annual turnover of “at least 500 million US dollars. The CEO Outlook 2025 is the eleventh edition of the series.”
