Energy CEOs often agreed with other industry CEOs in terms of the overall business environment. However, our survey revealed some important differences in the way Energy CEOs view certain aspects of the short-term business environment. For instance, only 27 percent of Energy CEOs see an economic downturn as a major threat to business growth, compared to 63 percent of CEOs in all other industries. Low-cost competition is viewed as a threat to growth by 52 percent of other industries, but only 25 percent of Energy companies expressed concern.
Of bigger concern to energy companies is the threat of over-regulation. Seventy-one percent of Energy CEOs expressed concern about the regulatory threat, compared to 57 percent of CEOs in other industries.
