Key findings

This is a summary of the IBOS 2006 results

Please click here to view the 2006 IBOS results.

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Economic prospects for the next 12 months

• Businesses in most countries optimistic about their economic prospects…
• …with India and South Africa the most optimistic
• EU¹ optimism still lags well behind NAFTA²
• Japan remains pessimistic

Business performance and expectations

• Globally performance expectations improve again…
• …with turnover (revenue) and investment expectations particularly positive
• Extremely buoyant expectations in India…
• …but expectations still subdued in several eurozone and East Asia³ countries

Constraints on growth

• Regulations/red tape main constraint on business expansion…
• …particularly in Poland and Russia
• Lack of availability of a skilled workforce now second most significant constraint

The global market

• Just over one third of businesses export
• Significant increase in proportion of businesses exporting in Poland, Australia and Italy
• Russia now has the smallest proportion of exporting businesses

Attraction and retention of staff

• Many countries experiencing skill shortages become more focused on attracting/retaining staff
• Possessing a good corporate reputation most important strategy for attracting/retaining employees

Impact of modern communications technology on business

• Business owners spend on average 1.5 hours a day accessing email
• NAFTA much more positive than EU regarding effect of internet on turnover (revenue)
• Internet usage in Japan well below NAFTA and East Asia averages

Stress among business owners

• Increased competition and more demanding customer expectations generate stress among business owners
• Netherlands, Italy and France have lowest stress levels
• Turkey, Poland and Russia are the most stressed

Anticipated change of ownership of business

• Just over a quarter of businesses anticipate change of ownership in next ten years…
• …however only just over half of these businesses have made preparations for change
• Trade sale is most likely method of change of ownership

EU business trends

• Expectations for turnover (revenue), exports, profits and investment have picked up moderately
• Proportion of EU businesses exporting has sharply declined
• Larger pool of labour and ease of access to larger markets main effects of EU enlargement

Asia Pacific commercial relations with China

• China's boom boosted growth throughout the Asia Pacific region
• However, Taiwan has borne brunt of economic challenge posed by China

1. For the purposes of IBOS, "EU" refers to those EU countries covered by our survey - France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

2. North American Free Trade Agreement - incorporating Canada, Mesico and the US.

3. For the purposes of IBOS, "East Asia" incorporates Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan.