Overview

This report by Eversheds identifies the steps organisations have taken to protect their businesses from the challenging economic climate. It also explores their plans for the future, as well as assessing current confidence levels among senior executives compared to the beginning of the year.

The findings reveal four key themes:

- Chinese confidence soars, while USA mood slumps

One in four senior executives across the globe are less confident now that at the beginning of the year. However, the mood varies greatly from country to country. The boom in economic confidence in China continues, with 83% of senior executives more confident now than at the beginning of the year, compared to just 28% in the USA. Manufacturing is among the most confident of sectors, along with chemicals/ pharmaceuticals and transport and distribution.

- Businesses have combined cost cutting with customer focus

Across the globe, it is evident that businesses have put in place a combination of measures to combat the difficult economic climate. Most prominently, these included proactive business development activity. In fact, an increased focus on customer relationship management (CRM) was the most popular tool that was deployed across the globe, closely followed by seeking new market segments.

- Businesses are on the acquisition trail

Looking ahead, the focus shifts slightly and businesses look set to concentrate on corporate strategy much more than they have during the last 18 months. One in five senior executives (22%) said their business would be looking at potential acquisitions during the next year. The energy and natural resources sector is most focused on acquisitions in the year ahead, closely followed by food, drink and tobacco companies.

- Positive people outlook

There appears to be a renewed appetite to increase staff numbers – only 15% said they had increased staff during the last 18 months, but this rose to 29% when asked about plans for the year ahead. Chemicals/pharmaceuticals companies and those in the healthcare sector are most focused on recruitment. This correlates with an overall declining trend in redundancies, with just 19% planning redundancies in the year ahead – down from 34% in the last 18 months.

To read this report, click ‘View Briefing’.