Risk of recession means half of corporations say they’ve stopped innovating

Half of UK C-suites (50 p.c) say that the specter of recession has meant innovation has ceased of their enterprise, in response to model new analysis from consultancy Magnetic. Simply 22 p.c disagree, with 28 p.c undecided. This corroborates the 56 p.c who say they’re prioritising the survival of their enterprise above all else; an particularly regarding determine when two-thirds of the pattern are giant companies with greater than 250 workers.

Nonetheless, regardless of a gruelling financial surroundings, development and innovation is the highest precedence for C-suites in 2024. 37 p.c of the senior leaders in UK companies stated that development and innovation was a high precedence over the subsequent six months, particularly for corporations with fewer than 100 workers (45 p.c, versus 34 p.c with 100+) and publicly listed companies (42 p.c).

The following highest-ranking priorities embody upskilling workers (32 p.c), managing rising overheads (32 p.c) and workers retention (30 p.c), which outranked workers recruitment by 3 share factors.

Greatest priorities for c-suite executives within the UK over the subsequent six months

• Development and innovation 37 p.c
• Upskilling workers 32 p.c
• Managing rising overheads 32 p.c
• Employees retention 30 p.c
• Employees recruitment 27 p.c
• Upgrading cyber-security 27 p.c
• Creating sustainability methods 27 p.c
• Investing in IT infrastructure 26 p.c
• Adapting to evolving buyer wants 25 p.c
• Shifting in direction of long-term pondering 24 p.c
• Securing our provide chain 22 p.c
• Staying solvent 22 p.c
• Streamlining our change course of 17 p.c
• N/A – I don’t have any priorities for my enterprise over the subsequent 6 months  2 p.c

This give attention to development and innovation brings with it an urge for food for spending in UK corporations. C-suites are ready to place their cash the place their mouth is, with 84 p.c set to coach their groups in innovation expertise over the subsequent 12 months, 81 p.c pledging to put money into upskilling their workers in technical expertise, and 89 p.c planning to replace their expertise. By way of set tasks, 78 p.c plan to put money into creating a brand new product, with 34 p.c committing ‘important funding’; this plan is extra seemingly in publicly listed corporations (85 p.c) than of their privately owned counterparts (74 p.c).

The economic system tops the listing of issues concerning the future, with 38 p.c figuring out rising rates of interest as a giant problem, 36 p.c saying inflation, and 33 p.c saying financial uncertainty basically. Past the economic system, 26 p.c are involved about entry to expertise, and plenty of are anxious by the tempo of change; 19 p.c title the tempo of technological improvement as a key problem, and the identical quantity (19 p.c) spotlight each altering shopper wants and shifting worker expectations