Global Business Barometer April 2008 The Global Business Barometer is a quarterly business-confidence index, conducted for The Economist by the Economist Intelligence Unit
What are your expectations of global business conditions over the next six months? Better than current conditions 15% Same as current conditions 36% Worse than current conditions 48%
What are your expectations of business conditions in your country of residence over the next six months? Better than current conditions 21% Same as current conditions 39% Worse than current conditions 41%
What are your expectations of business conditions in your industry over the next six months? Better than current conditions 24% Same as current conditions 41% Worse than current conditions 35%
What is your primary industry? IT and technology Professional services Financial services Manufacturing Healthcare, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology Energy and natural resources Telecoms Consumer goods Entertainment, media and publishing Construction and real estate Transportation, travel and tourism Automotive Chemicals Retailing Agriculture and agribusiness Education Logistics and distribution 14% 14% 11% 10% 7% 7% 6% 4% 4% 4% 3% 3% 3% 3% 2% 2% 2%
What are your organisation's global annual revenues in US dollars? $500m or less 46% $500m to $1bn 9% $1bn to $5bn 13% $5bn to $10bn 6% $10bn or more 22% Not applicable 4%
Which of the following best describes your title? Board member 6% CEO/President/Managing director 24% CFO/Treasurer/Comptroller CIO/Technology director Other C-level executive 2% 5% 5% SVP/VP/Director 15% Head of Business Unit Head of Department 9% 12% Manager 23%
In how many countries does your organisation operate, including the country of headquarters? 1 16% 2 to 5 29% 6 to 10 10% 11 to 25 10% More than 25 34%
In which country are you personally based? United States of America 14.4 % South Africa 1.0 % Chile 0.3 % United Kingdom 11.1 % Malaysia 0.9 % Czech Republic 0.3 % India 8.9 % Taiwan 0.8 % Finland 0.3 % Canada 5.6 % Hong Kong 0.7 % Latvia 0.3 % Germany 4.0 % Indonesia 0.7 % Pakistan 0.3 % China 3.7 % Bulgaria 0.6 % Uruguay 0.3 % Italy 3.7 % Greece 0.6 % Egypt 0.2 % Australia 3.1 % Norway 0.6 % Hungary 0.2 % Switzerland 2.9 % Poland 0.6 % Kenya 0.3 % France 2.8 % Thailand 0.6 % Panama 0.2 % Netherlands 2.8 % Belgium 0.5 % Peru 0.2 % Singapore 2.8 % Denmark 0.5 % Romania 0.2 % Spain 2.8 % Nigeria 0.5 % Slovakia 0.2 % Brazil 1.9 % Portugal 0.5 % Syria 0.2 % Mexico 1.6 % Turkey 0.5 % Venezuela 0.2 % Russia 1.4 % Vietnam 0.5 % Bahamas 0.1 % Austria 1.3 % Ireland 0.4 % Belarus 0.1 % Japan 1.2 % Israel 0.4 % Belize 0.1 % Colombia 1.1 % New Zealand 0.4 % Bolivia 0.1 % Sweden 1.1 % Slovenia 0.4 % Cambodia 0.1 % United Arab Emirates 1.1 % Ukraine 0.4 % Congo 0.1 % Argentina 1.0 % Bahrain 0.3 % Other countries 2.5 %
Global Business Barometer by geography Global conditions Country conditions Industry conditions Index Change on previous quarter All regions -33.0-20.0-10.6-21.2-19.4 North America -30.8-44.0-13.2-29.3-11.5 Asia Pacific -38.0-3.3-10.1-17.1-30.2 European Union -28.6-28.0-10.2-22.3-26.9 Latin America -52.0-12.0-17.3-27.1-35.3 BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China) -38.6 7.6-6.3-12.4-30.4
Global Business Barometer by industry Global conditions Country conditions Industry conditions Index Change on previous quarter All industries -33.0-20.0-10.6-21.2-19.4 Financial services -46.8-26.6-35.8-36.4-18.9 Professional services -27.2-17.3-3.5-16.0-13.1 IT & technology -23.1-18.3-8.8-16.7-35.1 Manufacturing -34.4-15.0-12.0-20.5-12.6 Entertainment, media & publishing -25.7-30.8-28.2-28.2-25.3 Healthcare, pharmaceuticals & biotech -45.9-24.3-20.3-30.2-20.5 Construction & real estate -34.2-15.8-7.9-19.3 5.1
Sample and methodology This survey was conducted between mid-march and mid-april 2008. In total, 1,017 executives replied to the survey from a spread of industries, countries and company sizes. Respondents were drawn from the Economist Intelligence Unit s panel of global executives and from the readership of Economist.com. More than 40% were boardlevel managers and just over half worked for companies with more than $500m in annual revenues. The principal industries represented were IT and technology, professional services, financial services, and manufacturing. America provided the greatest number of respondents, with 143 respondents; the G7 and the BRIC countries accounted for 11 of the top 18 countries. The methodology for calculating the global business barometer is taken from the OECD s 2003 handbook on business confidence surveys. Respondents must answer three questions about their expectations for future business conditions, each of which has three possible replies: better (+), same (=) and worse (-). The (-) percentage is subtracted from the (+) percentage for each question to give a net balance. The net balance is then averaged across each of the three questions to create a single index number. The results of the next barometer are due in June 2008.