BrazilArthur D. Little: CEOs in the UAE more confident and front-footed than global peers
CEOs worldwide are focused on growth, innovation, and embracing disruption, with chief executives in the UAE more confident and strategically front-footed than their global peers, according to the 2025 edition of Arthur D. Little’s annual CEO Insights study.
Now in its third edition, Arthur D. Little’s global CEO Insights study involved interviews with over 300 CEOs from companies worldwide and across sectors, providing an in-depth view into how top leaders look at the future, and what they’re doing to realize their company’s strategies and goals.
Despite unprecedented change and market volatility, 75% of all CEOs told Arthur D. Little that they expecting the medium-term global economic outlook to improve, up from just 22% two years ago.
In the United Arab Emirates, the positive sentiment is more pronounced – 85% of CEOs based in the seven emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah) expect the global economy to improve over the next three to five years, placing them among the most optimistic in the world and marking a significant increase from 61% in 2024.
Asked about the most important trends they foresee, CEOs worldwide pinpointed sustainability (64%), rapid technology advances (52%), artificial intelligence (42), and digital transformation (42%) as the most important. In the UAE, the findings were relatively similar, with the heightened confidence reinforced by a strong focus on sustainability, technology and innovation.
Demonstrating this, nearly one third of UAE-based CEOs give ESG higher priority than other strategic initiatives, more than double the global figure of 12%. “ESG is no longer viewed solely as a compliance requirement, but as a competitive differentiator and growth driver. Many UAE leaders are aligning ESG with operational strategy, prioritizing long-term impact, and integrating it across departments to create business value,” said Thomas Kuruvilla, Managing Partner of Arthur D. Little in the Middle East and India.
The importance of AI
When it comes to technology and specifically artificial intelligence, a larger number of CEOs (in comparison to last year) said that they have a compelling company-wide AI strategy in place. Company-wide strategies are strongest in Europe outside the Big 5 economies (50%), in North America (39%), and in the high-tech (48%) and financial services (38%) sectors.
Arthur D. Little noted additionally that overall maturity of AI implementation has grown over the past 12 months, with companies moving from pilot projects to more scaled use of artificial intelligence. That shift has been most visible in the generative AI domain, with tools such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Copilot or Perplexity used to automate and speed up tedious job-related tasks.
Use cases for AI can be found across the full organizational landscape, although CEOs did highlight that most of the advancements are booked in areas that boost the efficiency and effectiveness of core functions. Companies that lead in AI also manage to improve their primary processes with AI, and develop new products and business models.
In other areas that sets UAE chief executives apart from their peers: they are setting bolder targets for operational performance (they anticipate 8.8% annual productivity improvement over the next three years, which is higher than the global average) and are more focused on maintaining strategic agility (83% have recently revised their strategies in response to external shifts, compared to just 59% globally).
Reflections on the report
Commenting on the report’s key findings for the UAE, Kuruvilla said: “CEOs in the UAE are translating confidence into bold action. Their sharp focus on ESG leadership, operational excellence and workforce development is not just about keeping pace - it is about setting the pace.”
“In an environment marked by constant transformation, UAE companies are taking decisive steps to redefine what sustainable, tech-enabled leadership looks like. This is not short-term positioning but rather a long-term strategy for regional and global competitiveness.”
Francesco Marsella, Managing Partner and Global Leader of the Growth and Transformation practices at Arthur D. Little, added: “The CEO Insights study shows that CEOs are ready for the unexpected, with mindsets that see change as an opportunity rather than a threat. CEOs feel well-positioned to not just cope with geopolitical and technology uncertainty, but to thrive and grow.”
