Are we past the worst?
There was a range of views from our respondents with a quarter saying the worst was now behind us and 42% saying that some signs of life in the global economy are evident or will be by the end of the year but a strong minority of 21% saw no recovery before the second half of 2010 at the earliest.
There are some sectors that are more optimistic than others – Telecoms, Power, Oil & Gas in particular - but others see a longer downturn, notably Asset Management and Real Estate and Construction. Respondents in Europe were more negative than in Asia or the Americas.
For this study, the Economist intelligence Unit surveyed 569 C-suite and board level executives. Respondents were drawn from across the world and across industry sectors. Over half the executives polled worked for companies with annual global revenue in excess of 1 billion US dollars. The research was carried out in June 2009.
There are some sectors that are more optimistic than others – Telecoms, Power, Oil & Gas in particular - but others see a longer downturn, notably Asset Management and Real Estate and Construction. Respondents in Europe were more negative than in Asia or the Americas.
For this study, the Economist intelligence Unit surveyed 569 C-suite and board level executives. Respondents were drawn from across the world and across industry sectors. Over half the executives polled worked for companies with annual global revenue in excess of 1 billion US dollars. The research was carried out in June 2009.