According to PwC’s Global CEO Survey, the vast majority of companies are already taking some steps towards reinvention; however, CEOs are more concerned about their long-term viability.

PwC has surveyed 4,702 CEOs who said they were more optimistic about global economic growth than last year. However, 45% of them remain not confident that their companies would survive more than a decade on their current path.

“As business leaders are becoming less concerned about macroeconomic challenges, they are becoming more focused on disruptive forces within their industries,” Bob Moritz, global chair of PwC, said in a statement.

“Despite rising optimism about the global economy, they are actually less optimistic than last year about their own revenue prospects and more acutely aware of the need for fundamental reinvention of their business,” he said.

“Whether it is accelerating the roll-out of generative AI or building their business to address the challenges and opportunities of the climate transition, this is a year of transformation,”Moritz added.

CEOs said that they expect more pressure over the next three years than they experienced over the previous five from technology, climate change and nearly every other megatrend affecting global business.

Survival-conscious CEOs are among the 45% who are less confident of their company’s viability and are slightly more likely than other CEOs to have taken action aimed at reinventing their business models, said PWC.

Meanwhile, small company chief executives are more likely than their larger company counterparts to feel their company’s viability threatened, the research firm said.

Within the key findings, two-thirds of CEOs report reallocation of resources whether financial or human of 20% or less year to year suggesting a  more aggressive reallocation in order to succeed.

The surveyed participants have said that there are massive inefficiencies across a range of their companies’ routine activities, 60% of them expect to create efficiency benefits, releasing some routine burdens.

The findings also show that four in ten CEOs report that they have accepted lower hurdle rates for climate-friendly investments than for other investments.

Some have said they are also willing to make complex trade-offs as they strive to boost the sustainability of their businesses.