CEOs have been grumpy about excessive regulation since the beginning of time, and time has apparently done nothing to assuage their umbrage at regulators.

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A 2016 survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers of CEOs worldwide found that 78 percent are concerned about overregulation. But while they may chafe at the restrictions the rule-makers burden them with, nearly 4 in 10 say they are “very confident” about their company's growth prospects. More than 6 in 10 say they believe there are more opportunities for growth today than there were three years ago.

The survey asked CEOs whether they believe the economy will decline in the next 12 months, remain static or grow. Demonstrating the profound caution many corporate leaders have shown during this recovery, the majority didn't seen a big spurt ahead. Nearly 2 in 10 say they expect a decline, while another 4 in 10 say “stay the same.” Just over a third forecast another year of growth.

When looking ahead three years, the CEOs are much more optimistic. Less than 10 percent aren't confident about growth prospects, while there are an equal number of those who say they are either “somewhat” or “very” confident.

However, these captains of industry, when asked whether there are more threats to corporate prosperity today than three years ago, largely agree with the statement. Two in 10 didn't.

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Overregulation was cited by most as a primary threat to their prospects, ahead of such factors as an increasing tax burden and geopolitical uncertainty, which both got fairly high “extremely concerned” responses. Of far less concern were access to capital, the unemployment rate, social instability, and “inadequate infrastructure.”

Threats to prosperity

The survey dug deeper on threats to prosperity, asking respondents to rate various specific threats. When asked about how concerned they were over having more competitors in their marketplace, this crowd is nearly split down the middle on the concerned/not concerned spectrum.

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However, when asked whether they expect to be able to find the skilled employees they need to spur growth, the level of concern shot up. In fact, the “concerned” over finding key skills far outpaces any other concerns listed, including shift in consumer spending and behaviors, speed of technological change, cyberthreats and “lack of trust in business.”

Asked to peer into their crystal balls to see disruptive influences about to affect them, the CEOs, the top vote-getter was that old favorite, “changes in regulation.”

The big shift in business strategy will come not from within their own business sector going forward, but, according to the survey responses, “in sectors other than their own.” Nearly 6 in 10 say it was “quite” or “very” likely that organizations would be competing outside their traditional marketplaces, and less than 10 percent think the notion is “very unlikely.”

“Companies are increasingly focused on customer problems, and looking at how the organizational capabilities that differentiate them can be used in cross-disciplinary ways to solve those problems,” the report says.

“That's taking businesses into adjacent — and sometimes completely new — sectors. More than half of CEOs think it likely that companies will increasingly compete in new industries over the next three years. Three in ten have entered a new sector or sub-sector in the past three years; and 21 percent have considered doing so.”