Economic Conditions Snapshot, April 2010

McKinsey & Company (2010). McKinsey global survey results: economic conditions snapshot, April 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2010 from: https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/PDFDownload.aspx?ar=2569

This survey was conducted and published by McKinsey and Company and summarizes the responses, to questions covering several business-related subjects, from 2,059 executives representing a full range of industries, regions, functional specialties, and tenures. It gives the reader a feel for the pulse of the business world and what executives are thinking. The first subject covered is how executives view US health care reform. 63% of executives in the US or those that work for US-headquartered companies believe that health care reform is good. However, a large number of them do not know how the new law will affect their companies’ finances or affect their employee’s benefits. The next subject covered in the survey is the executives’ outlook on the economy and their company’s prospects for growth. The number one priority for the CEOs in 2010 is to first stabilize the firm’s finances, then to find growth opportunities through geographic expansion and development of new products and services. 42% of executives expect to hire in 2010, which is up from 29% two months ago. However, many are remaining cautious and a smaller 31% expect to hire in the first half of 2010. Two-thirds of the respondents rate economic conditions in their countries as better than they were six months ago and expect more improvement by the end of the year. This survey summary has many more details and results posted than what is discussed in this annotation and it is worthwhile to take a look at. If accurate, it does give a lot of information as to what is happening in the business world and gives the reader a good idea where things may be headed. What is not disclosed in the summary, are the measures taken by the McKinsey and Company to insure the results are accurate.