2025 marks the 21st year of Grant Thornton’s work to monitor and measure the proportion of women occupying senior management roles in mid-market companies around the world.
Explore Grant Thornton’s latest report on how mid-market firms globally are advancing towards sustainability, tackling regulatory hurdles, and seizing new opportunities.
Women’s leadership in senior positions can impact the commercial performance of mid-market businesses including profit expectations.
Entrepreneurial spirit maintains optimism as firms look past slowdown and plan for growth
According to the latest data from the International Business Report (IBR), Grant Thornton’s global survey of mid-market companies, business leaders are cautious about their future investment intentions.
Over the last few years of market shocks and geopolitical tensions, mid-market businesses have grown accustomed to bracing and planning for the unexpected.
Mid-market firms using international supply chains have faced significant disruption and headwinds as a consequence of the war in Ukraine, the long tail of COVID disruption and wider geo-political tensions. However, despite ongoing economic uncertainty, many international business leaders continue to see international trade, and particularly exports, as a key driver for growth. According to data from the IBR, Grant Thornton’s global survey of mid-market companies, 45% of mid-market firms expect to increase their volume of exports over the course of 2023. This represents a slight increase from the first half of 2022 (+1%) and continues the trend that expectations have been rebounding strongly from the lows of the pandemic.
For many businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic’s manifestation as a black-swan event highlighted the shortcomings of the organisation’s risk awareness and risk management ability. In 2023 and beyond, the need for a trusted Internal Audit business partner, with a truly enterprise-wide risk lens, has emerged as a must-have rather than an optional extra. Knowing yourself, and in particular knowing which areas pose the greatest risks to your organisation are critical in today’s business and regulatory environment.
The International Business Report (IBR) is the world’s leading survey of mid-market companies. The IBR now provides insight into the views and expectations of around 10,000 businesses across 28 economies.