Davos 2026: Bain & Company's Manny Maceda says CEOs must rethink playbooks for a fragmented world order

Bain & Company Chair Manny Maceda said CEOs today are required to understand the geopolitical and economic order more deeply than ever, arguing that the era of a single “global” operating environment has ended.

In his view, the new world order demands that technology deployment and capital allocation decisions be structured by country, not globally—forcing business leaders to factor in market-specific regulation, incentives, digital infrastructure, and political alignment before committing investments.

Maceda suggested that forums like Davos have been shaped by a period of global integration that no longer defines the world’s current trajectory. Cross-border investment decisions now reflect national security considerations, industrial policy, technology sovereignty, and capital controls.

He maintained that part of the modern CEO’s mandate is to proactively engage policymakers and political leadership to understand shifting regulatory frameworks and trade dynamics that influence enterprise strategy.

AI moves from efficiency to transformation

Maceda said AI has transitioned from an efficiency tool to a potential driver of new business models and revenue streams, marking what he sees as the next competitive battleground for companies. Bain categorises AI utilisation into three layers: redeployment of existing tech capabilities; productivity and labour efficiency gains; and full business transformation.

According to him, the first two layers—redeployment and productivity—have already shown results, particularly in reducing time spent on internal workflows and enhancing output. But genuine transformation, he warned, remains difficult and uneven. Companies are still grappling with how new AI-native business models can replace or augment their core operations.

Maceda argued that while generative AI has contributed to upward valuation pressure for technology and platform companies, its impact on corporate bottom lines will be more modest in the near term—around 20%—and uneven across sectors due to complexity of implementation and lack of uniformity of adoption.

Bain’s outlook on India

Bain continues to view India as a high-growth and structurally important market. Maceda said India sits at the intersection of digital adoption, favourable demographics, and policy-led capital formation, which together create a long investment runway for consumer, financial services, technology, and infrastructure.

Bain entered India in 2006 and has built one of its fastest-growing practices globally across New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru — now the consulting firm’s largest team in Asia. The offices serve global CEOs, Indian corporates, private equity, and mid-market firms across strategy, M&A, operations, and tech-led transformation. India has also been integrated into Bain’s global client servicing model, enabling multinational work to be executed from the country.

The firm influences India’s economic conversation through sector reports tracking retail consumption, VC/PE flows, exports, e-retail penetration and GDP-linked growth vectors. Its assessments highlight India’s position as a consumer-growth hub where multinational consumer brands have delivered 2–6x shareholder returns; PE/VC inflows touched ~$43 billion in 2024, rising 9%; and household retail investment continues to expand under a $30 trillion GDP aspiration by 2047.

Bain plans to scale hiring and deepen capabilities in India along with the Middle East and Southeast Asia—three regions it expects to account for higher consulting spend. AI, cloud and data partnerships with hyperscalers like AWS and Microsoft will form the technological backbone for its next phase of growth. Adjacent services in sustainability, procurement optimisation, and digital transformation are also being prioritised.