Economic pressures and persistent inflation are the top near-term risks facing business leaders around the world, according to a new survey from Protiviti and NC State University’s ERM Initiative.
The 12th annual survey, ‘Executive Perspectives on Top Risks for 2024 and a Decade Later’, was conducted by global consulting firm Protiviti and the NC State University Poole College of Management’s Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Initiative. The study surveyed more than 1,100 board members and c-suite executives from organizations worldwide in a variety of industries, asking them to rate 36 macroeconomic, strategic and operational risks on a sliding 1-10 scale across one-year (2024) and one-decade (2034) time horizons.
The top risks for 2024
Of the 36 macroeconomic, strategic and operational risks assessed in the survey, the top five risks identified for 2024 are:
- Economic conditions, including inflationary pressures
- Ability to attract, develop and retain top talent, manage shifts in labor expectations, and address succession challenges
- Cyber threats
- Third-party risks
- Heightened regulatory changes and scrutiny.
The top risks for 2034
Survey respondents also rated the expected impact of the same 36 risks for a decade out, into 2034, assessing how the risk landscape might shift over the coming decade. The top five risks identified for 2034 are:
- Cyber threats
- Ability to attract, develop and retain top talent, manage shifts in labor expectations, and address succession challenges
- Adoption of digital technologies requiring new skills in short supply
- Rapid speed of disruptive innovations enabled by new and emerging technologies and/or other market forces
- Heightened regulatory changes and scrutiny.
While the economy is the top-ranked risk for the coming year, cyber threats jumped to the top of the list when leaders assessed both near- and long-term outlooks, after not being a top-five risk at all last year. This jump reflects the growing recognition of the complex cyber risk landscape that is impacted by the exponential curve of technological advances and how seriously leaders are taking these threats.
Dr. Mark Beasley, professor of Enterprise Risk Management, director of NC State’s ERM Initiative and co-author of the report
