Page 196 - Accelerating out of the Great Recession
P. 196
APPENDIX B
ABOUT OUR
SURVEYS
In March and September of 2009, we conducted two surveys
that solicited the views of corporate executives on the business
environment in their countries and industries. Some 450 exec-
utives—based in the United States, the United Kingdom,
Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan—responded to both
surveys. The September survey respondents represented 218
companies with annual sales of between $1 billion and $4.9 bil-
lion, 166 companies with sales between $5 billion and $19.9
billion, and 60 companies with sales greater than $20 billion.
In the March survey, most executives said that their compa-
nies were struggling to adjust to deteriorating business condi-
tions. A significant percentage of them said that they were pre-
occupied with their company’s balance sheets and were not
thinking of the broad changes taking place in their countries
and industries. For example, 62 percent said that they were
■ 175 ■
