Hungarian CEOs: The lack of experts is the biggest problem

For the 8th time, PwC Magyarország has interviewed 236 CEOs from 8 industries, in cooperation with the Confederation of Hungarian Employers and Industrialists (MGYOSZ). In comparison with last year, one fifth of CEOs joined the group of pessimists and only 30 percent were of the opinion that there will be global economic growth in 2019; 35 percent were hopeful about an economic expansion in Hungary.

Dr Tamás Lőcsei, the CEO of PwC Magyarország who had been appointed in July 2018 told: just like in other parts of the world, CEOs in Hungary were optimistic about their own sales revenue at the end of last year when the interviews were made, but their trust in the growth rate of the world economy and their own country’s economic performance had shaken. Dr Barbara Koncz, director of tax and legal services at PwC Magyarország informed that 9 from 10 Hungarian CEOs calculate with a revenue increase for 2019.

Dr. Tamás Lőcsei, CEO of PwC Magyarország, dr. Barbara Koncz, business unit director of PwC Magyarország and dr. Péter Futó, president of Munkaadók és Gyáriparosok Országos Szövetsége

Germany has remained the most important target market for Hungarian CEOs, followed by Romania and the USA. The Czech Republic and Poland were also ranked higher than before. Dr Lőcsei spoke about the growing importance of the cooperation between the Visegrád Four countries in economic matters too. The lack of experts influences the 2019 business plans very much. CEOs reckon that this problem will lead to higher workforce costs, worse customer experience and missing out on market opportunities. Due to this 44 percent of international and 37 percent of Hungarian CEOs believe that the growth targets are in danger. In Hungary it is definitely the lack of experts that CEOs are most concerned about, but 83 percent of company heads also worry about the changing demographic composition of the workforce.

In Hungary 92 percent of CEOs reported that it had become more difficult to find workers with the necessary knowledge and skills than in the previous year. One quarter of them think that the solution to this problem can be closer cooperation with colleges and universities; 23 percent hope in-house training programmes can solve the problem. Dr Péter Futó, president of MGYOSZ told: it is high time trade education was reformed in full, because the country’s economy can’t stay competitive with the current system.

In spite of the fact that companies invested a lot of money in IT system development, CEOs still feel they don’t get enough data for making decisions that would lay the foundations for the long-term success and sustainability of their businesses; the only exception is financial data. 48 percent of Hungarian CEOs complained about unreliable data and 38 percent said that the low level of customer willingness to give feedback was a problem for them.

Currently only 42 percent of companies are using artificial intelligence (AI) technology at a global level. In Hungary this proportion is only 26 percent. However, 71 percent of international and 69 percent of Hungarian CEOs reckon that in the next 5 years AI will have a bigger impact on their business operations than the appearance of the internet had. Despite this only 35 percent of CEOs plan to take steps in this direction in the next 3 years. They are a bit afraid of AI technology – revealed Dr Lőcsei. What is more, 54 percent of Hungarian and 48 percent of international CEOs believe that in the long run AI technology will end more jobs than it is going to create. //