The World Economic Forum describes its official mandate as "improving the state of the world." Those discussions occur, but business is also a large part of the organization's annual event in the Swiss mountain town of Davos.

Davos "is very efficient for people like myself because all our clients are here, so you get a lot of meetings done," Martin Gilbert, co-CEO of global investment firm Standard Life Aberdeen told CNBC on the sidelines of the conference. "So it works, and everyone's here."

As for the forum's dialogues on world-changing developments, the executive said: "I'd love to save the world, but there are people better qualified at saving the world than me."

Gilbert, who estimated he clocks around 50 meetings during the four-day conference, says he's more suited to participating in discussions about longer-term investing: "That's something I do feel passionately about ... If we all take a longer-term view to investing and investing in infrastructure, it will actually make the world a better place."

Gilbert says his company's average holding time on an equity is 10 years.

With around $900 billion consolidated assets under management, Standard Life Aberdeen is Europe's second-largest fund manager following last year's $14.8 billion merger between Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management.