2025 will be a year of opportunities and challenges. How we approach them will determine our future.
Sometimes the world feels more uncertain than ever. For business leaders, the path forward may seem increasingly uncertain due to rapidly evolving technology, changing policies, concerns about supply chain stability, and a shift to more sustainable models. No. But this is exactly why it is so important to have a clear strategy to guide us in the right direction.
Capgemini Institute’s new report, Navigating Uncertainty with Confidence: Investment Priorities for 2025, provides a comprehensive overview of emerging investment trends and complexities. This report will serve as an annex to the 2025 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. Designed to serve as a strategy guide for CEOs, it helps align investment strategies with broader global trends. It includes recommendations to help CEOs and their leadership teams advance their investment strategies to 2025 and beyond. These recommendations include building resilient supply chains, leveraging sustainability for growth, preparing for regulatory change and geopolitical uncertainty, and strengthening the focus within nearshoring and friendshoring strategies. This includes developing a strong partner ecosystem and accelerating digital transformation and technology investment.
The third annual edition of the Investment Trends Report draws insights from a survey of 2,500 senior executives across 17 countries and nine industries. Also included is a discussion with Jeremy Jurgens, Managing Director and Director of the World Economic Forum’s Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The report found that despite continued global uncertainty, 62% of large companies are optimistic about their growth prospects in 2025, up from 56% in 2024. But this confidence stands in contrast to a more cautious view of the broader global economy.
Cost reduction is a strategic objective for 2025, with 56% of organizations prioritizing cost reduction over revenue growth in 2025. Despite cost containment being essential, 50% of organizations plan to increase overall investment in 2025 to drive efficiency and long-term competitiveness.
The top investment priorities for 2025 are customer experience and engineering, research and development, and innovation, and the fastest-growing priorities are supply chain transformation and sustainability. Navigate uncertainty with confidence: According to 2025 Investment Priorities, 63% of business leaders plan to increase investment in supply chain, an increase of 15 percentage points from 2024. Additionally, 62% plan to increase their sustainability investments in 2025, an increase of 10 percentage points from last year. .
Although growth in sustainability investments has slowed, sustainability remains an important aspect of companies’ future plans, with sustainability investments focusing on climate technology, sustainable product design, biodiversity, and water. I am. When it comes to technology investments, we expect U.S. organizations, especially mid-sized ones, to make more technology investments than their global peers, with AI and generative AI being top priorities.
The main challenges and risks for 2025 are trade disputes, tariffs, and talent shortages. Seven out of 10 executives around the world are concerned about rising tariffs and bilateral trade disputes. Additionally, a majority of business leaders (61%) agree that a lack of technology skills is a major impediment to their organization’s ability to remain competitive.
Download the full report now.
