C-suite barometer: 2026 mid-year insights

The number of businesses boosting investment across all areas is still high, but with a slight dip (down 7 points from 69% to 62%) suggesting a more cautious approach. On closer analysis, investment is being redirected from long‑term foundations such as talent, sustainability and brand, towards more immediate stabilisers and essentials like supply chain management, to manage disruption in the current climate. The same pragmatism is evident in growth strategies. Strategic alliances and joint ventures have just edged out private equity as the preferred route to scale and funding, but the clear appetite for both reflects the need for flexibility, shared risk and access to capabilities compared with the traditional balance‑sheet expansion approach alone. Notably, over half of leaders (and across every region) have diversified resources in the past six months in response to geopolitical developments, compared with around a quarter that have adopted or accelerated friendshoring, offshoring or near‑shoring plans. Meanwhile, cost pressures are increasingly being passed through to customers, with less businesses absorbing costs, testing pricing power and loyalty.

C-suite leaders are remapping operational plans and trading relationships. Increased activity in this area reinforces the expansion plans identified at the beginning of the year, but with greater emphasis on diversifying targeted destinations. Businesses are focusing expansion closer to home – both domestically and in neighbouring markets. At the same time, Greater China, Latin America and Australia/Asia‑Pacific are the top destinations planned for increased trade. Central and Eastern Europe also stands out as the only market attracting interest from all neighbouring and distant regions. 

Businesses are now confirming concrete returns on AI investments and the specific extent of those returns. Overall, this is positive against the current backdrop as leaders start to sharpen how they measure transformation success and their use cases – from initial intent to valuable impact. They’re now placing greater emphasis on the external gains of productivity and customer satisfaction, paying less attention to internal adoption initiatives that were in focus six months earlier.  C-suite leaders still want better decisions and a competitive edge through transformation, but they’re no longer relying on a single route to get there.