The latest McKinsey Quarterly Global Survey of Business Executives July 2004 of some 5,500 senior corporate leaders around the world shows that executives from a wide range of industries and regions remain broadly positive about the global economy. These executives have curbed their optimism since early this year, but many plan to step up hiring as well as spending on information technology. The most vigorously upbeat sentiment comes from India, where executives voice strong confidence in the new government’s ability to advance economic liberalization, and from a rapidly expanding China, which is confident that it will continue to attract massive foreign direct investment.
Nonetheless, during a period when oil prices and fears of interest rate hikes rose, executives curbed their earlier enthusiasm about their own economies and industries. Overall, confidence levels have declined by 6 percent since the Quarterly’s first survey, in January. The most dramatic decrease came in developing markets.
- Read the full report (registration required) – The McKinsey Quarterly: The McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives, July 2004