Eurogroup Consulting unveils the results of its new Baromètre des Dirigeants français 2025, carried out in partnership with the entrepreneurs' network of the French Chambers of Commerce and Industry, CCI France international French Foreign Trade Advisors and BFM Business.
2025: OVERCOMING UNCERTAINTY
are neutral, confident or optimistic, a sign of cautious voluntarism
are nevertheless uncertain (+6 pts VS 2024)
+1.1 point
average increase in foreign forecasts
2025 promises to be a new stage in the management of uncertainties
Despite a year marked by mounting geopolitical and economic risks, and a highly unstable institutional environment, the majority of French business leaders display a cautious voluntarism, a sign of energy and resilience that are not drying up.
While recognizing that many challenges remain, they believe in their ability to meet them. This pragmatism is reflected in a refocusing of priorities on preserving and restoring margins, and adapting their business.
This year, the Barometer also surveyed French executives based abroad. On all indicators, they were slightly more confident than their peers in France.
Key indicators
Activity
4.9points
Investment
4.3points
Workforce
4.6points
The ambition to expand internationally
More than a third (34%) managers, wherever they are based, wish develop their business in a new country. Of these, almost 2/3 prefer Asia-Pacific and Europe.
Companies' priority challenges and issues for 2025: Geopolitics, growth and sovereignty
The current context plays an important role: the geopolitical and security risk leaps into first place (74% versus 22% in 2024) in front of the economic risk still identified by 68% of managers surveyed (66% in 2024) as a major source of concern, far ahead of the climate (13 % only) a priority in 2024.
Concerns that do not prevent growing international ambitions. On average, one French manager in three plans to expand into a new country by 2025, a sign of persistent confidence in the future. This momentum is particularly strong among small and medium-sized companies, where almost half of managers are planning international expansion (47%).
consider geopolitical risks as a major concern (3x more than in 2024)
What counts for French managers' business
For the first time, the evolution of business appears as one of the three main challenges facing managers:
For the first time, the evolution of the business appears as one of the three main challenges facing managers. This evolution demonstrates the acute awareness that managers have of the need to adapt to market changes and the major environmental and technological upheavals that affect them. A word from Gilles Bonnenfant
"2025 promises to be a new stage in uncertainty management. The geometry of risk has profoundly changed. In a global context where unpredictability has become the norm, our business leaders are showing a cautious voluntarism. Each decision is the result of a fine-tuned analysis of preservation and projection.
Immediate economic priorities take precedence and transitions, including ecological ones, are momentarily relegated to the background. This approach reflects a pragmatism that favours short-term resilience while keeping longer-term structural issues in sight.
French entrepreneurs are not lacking in ambition: in drawing attention to the need to preserve economic sovereignty, they emphasize the need to put in place more robust measures to safeguard French and European competitiveness in the face of common challenges.
In this constantly reconfiguring world, the question is no longer how to resist, but how to cope with instability. The year 2025 could well be the year of active anticipation, where the ability to navigate uncertainty will become the key to seizing new opportunities."
Gilles Bonnenfant
Chairman, Eurogroup Company
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Every year, the Baromètre des Dirigeants français assesses the dynamism and outlook of French business leaders.
Conducted in partnership with Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie (CCI France), CCI France International, Les Conseillers du Commerce extérieur de la France and BFM Business, this study combines a forward-looking vision, an analysis of company operations and operational priorities. In addition, for the first time this year, it includes interviews with French managers based abroad, to give its results an international resonance.
