Future investment projections have fallen this year but are still robust: 66% of business leaders say their organizations will increase or strongly increase their investments over the next three years. While this reflects confidence in the future, this number is down from 80% in 2024, indicating that leaders are being more conservative in an uncertain geopolitical and macroeconomic environment.

However, digitally mature organizations are significantly more bullish on the future, with 80% of leaders planning to increase future investments, compared to 53% at less digitally mature companies.

Future investments still robust

Survey question: How do you think your company or organization’s level of investment will shift over the next 3 years? 5-point scale.

Further, future investments are higher at data-effective companies, where 86% of leaders say they will increase future investments. This indicates that organizations are seeing outsize benefits from their investments and that digital transformation efforts may have eased implementation challenges, resulting in long-term cost savings and productivity gains.

“Companies are all preparing for tougher times ahead and are thus avoiding blind expansion. Resources are limited, and there is increased uncertainty, so it is common for businesses to scale back operations to maintain security. Additionally, market opportunities have decreased, leading to a lower success rate, which also causes investments to diminish. This is part of entering a cyclical downturn, and such reactions are normal.”

– Wei Feng Lu, Senior Vice President, Morimatsu International Holdings Company Ltd., a global manufacturing and solutions company headquartered in China

Companies are pulling back on expansion efforts

Percentage of respondents who agree to statements: 1. My company is considering entering new markets. 2. My company is planning to offer new services. Survey questions: To what extent do you agree or disagree that your company or organization is doing the following to be more resilient? 5-point. Top = agree.

Most leaders surveyed for the 2025 State of Design & Make report say their companies continue to invest in entering new markets and in offering new products and services but at a lower rate than the previous year—67% of leaders say they will enter new markets this year, compared to 75% in 2024. Enthusiasm for offering new services is also down, with 69% of leaders this year saying they will offer new services compared to 77% previously.

These findings echo the global drop in sentiment seen this year and align with efforts to control costs in the near term.

But as with so many aspects concerning Design and Make industries, digitally mature organizations are much less likely to be affected by this general belt-tightening. Seventy-seven percent of digitally mature companies say they are considering entering new markets, compared with 57% of less digitally mature companies. They are also more likely (79%) to offer new products and services than their counterparts (60%) and to increase their investments into acquisitions (67% compared to 42%). These actions give digitally mature organizations a competitive advantage, allowing them to expand while others contract under market pressures.