According to the management consultancy Deloitte, geopolitics is increasingly determining the agenda of German companies. “Political stability is the top priority when choosing a location,” said Deloitte after surveying 140 CFOs on Wednesday.
Business expectations have improved significantly since the autumn, but ongoing inflation and geopolitical risks have slowed development. “Therefore, most CFOs remain cautiously optimistic, with the emphasis on cautious,” said Deloitte chief economist Alexander Börsch: “We are currently seeing measures to make companies weatherproof.”
The corona pandemic and the Ukraine war have shown companies how vulnerable their production and supply chains are. Geopolitical risks have therefore slipped high on their agenda. This can be seen “very clearly in the investment plans of German companies. North America is the most important goal,” says the study. India and Southeast Asia also benefited. South America is in focus for the supply of raw materials. “China, on the other hand, is losing importance as an investment destination in our survey.”
The risk of an escalation of the war in Ukraine weighs most heavily for two-thirds of the CFOs surveyed, followed by the spread of cyber attacks and a possible escalation of the conflict between China and Taiwan.
Almost half of the companies surveyed want to become more resilient in terms of sales markets, especially the automotive industry. In the consumer goods industry, the focus is on a broader procurement of preliminary work and raw materials, it wants to position itself more regionally and is primarily focusing on Eastern Europe as a location. Service providers see the most important geopolitical threat scenario in the spread of cyber attacks. (dpa)