|
On Opportunities and Risks:
■ New products (according to 40 percent of respondents), new
markets (38 percent) and acquisitions (32 percent) are the top
sources that will fuel revenue growth in the next five years.
■ Overregulation is the greatest factor that could have an impact
on profitability in the next five years (42 percent), followed
by health-care costs (36 percent) and changing global
economic conditions (30 percent).
■ Management will have “more” or “much more” impact on
performance in the next five years (72 percent), as will
operational efficiencies (68 percent).
■ The greatest likely budget increases (of at least 11 percent)
next year will be in the areas of capital expenditures (37 percent),
energy (31 percent) and technology (24 percent).
On Globalization:
■ Emerging markets pose an opportunity (62 percent) rather than
a threat (1 percent).
■ More than half of their companies have moved, are currently
moving or plan to move some operations offshore (53 percent);
more than three of five (64 percent) with offshore operations
report very successful results.
■ The current global trade environment is unfavorable or
extremely unfavorable (55 percent).
On Governance:
■ Board directors are more engaged (72 percent) and better
informed (66 percent).
■ It’s harder to find independent directors (78 percent). The
most effective means to find them are networking (67 percent)
and employing search firms (44 percent).
■ They are not yet convinced that overall the investment in
governance is worth the effort (68 percent).
On Shareholders:
■ Stock price (82 percent), cash flow from operations
(81 percent) and free cash flow (80 percent) are more
important to investors than five years ago.
■ Total assets (70 percent), total liabilities (64 percent), cash
on hand (59 percent) and return on assets (49 percent) are
less important to investors.
■ It is “somewhat” easier (26 percent) or “much” easier (11 percent)
to attract investors than it was five years ago.
On the Role of the Chief Executive:
■ Their jobs are more stressful (83 percent), more timeconsuming
(82 percent), more detail oriented (68 percent),
more administrative (63 percent), more hands-on (61 percent)
and less rewarding (53 percent) than five years ago.
■ They are spending more time reporting to the board
(68 percent), setting strategic policy (62 percent) and
conducting investor relations (50 percent).
■ The governance tasks that impose the most demands on
executives and directors are Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act (69 percent) and the overall monitoring and measuring of
compliance and governance issues (40 percent).
On Human Capital Management:
■ Their companies have diversity hiring goals (42 percent)
or plans to introduce or expand such goals (21 percent).
■ They plan to reduce or eliminate stock options (23 percent),
enhanced retirement packages (20 percent) and mortgage/
personal-loan assistance (15 percent).
■ It is “somewhat” or “much” easier to attract (49 percent) and
retain (36 percent) employees today than five years ago.
|
