Deep spending cuts and significant tax hikes are likely to further depress consumer spending in Ireland, increasing the pressure on businesses that are already struggling to deal with the effects of austerity. Irish Times correspondent Paul Golden reports on a country squeezed by bailout debt.
The CGMA global economic index is unchanged from the second quarter, but optimism in the US economy is dropping. US chief executives, financial directors and controllers are far less positive about the economy in their country and about their own businesses. These declines are offset by small gains in sentiment in the UK and other parts of the world, leaving the CGMA index at 58 for the third quarter.
A new study finds that developed markets in North America, Europe and Oceania have a lot of strengths that help businesses with growth potential flourish. But some emerging markets, especially in Asia, are competitive.
Unknown, complex risks that often are outside the executive team’s control increasingly threaten companies. Here are five strategies for battling those unknown risks.
CFOs in the Middle East were the most optimistic about their companies’ prospects worldwide, but this optimism was muted by concerns about political tensions in the Middle East and the euro-zone crisis, a Deloitte survey suggested.
The admission in June that bankers manipulated the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, revealed a gaping regulatory loophole that European lawmakers are targeting to close.
To continue to lift millions out of poverty, raise living standards of emerging middle-class consumers and entrench economic growth, African economies must accelerate the creation of wage-paying jobs.
Few US bank executives believe their local economies will improve in the next six months, and they take a dimmer view of the national outlook. A Grant Thornton survey found that 27.5% see an improving local economy, down from 44% who expected improvement in 2011.
After rising significantly at the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012, CPA business leaders’ optimism over the US economy has faded substantially in recent months, according to the latest American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) Business & Industry Economic Outlook Survey.
Envoys from 21 countries in Asia and on the Pacific Rim will meet September 8th and September 9th at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 20th economic leaders’ meeting in the far eastern Russian port city Vladivostok.
After about a decade of outpacing advanced economies, BRIC economies are seeing their growth slow. Deloitte’s most recent global economic outlook largely blames the euro-zone debt crisis but also on domestic challenges in some of the BRICs.
Companies in China and Japan are taking advantage of the euro zone’s woes and low US asset valuations to find acquisition bargains in developed markets.
European CFOs possess a far gloomier view of the next 12 months in terms of employment and other economic indicators than their US counterparts. Although US CFOs are keeping a close eye for residual threats from Europe’s woes, they are significantly more confident than European CFOs.
With the UK already in a double-dip recession and the euro zone expected to follow suit in the third quarter, financial markets are waiting to see whether Europe’s central banks will extend helping hands.
Despite worries about the euro-zone crisis and the economic slowdown in China, Australian CFOs remain bullish on economic growth and their companies’ hiring plans.
Brazil is a target for foreign investment, and the South American country figures to continue its rise thanks to a growing middle class and untapped natural resources. Foreign investment in Brazil has tripled since 2007, according to an Ernst & Young report. The nation’s infrastructure improvements in advance of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics make it an attractive bet for the future as well.
Manufacturing optimism was the lone bright spot in an otherwise grim report on UK business trends. Marketing products outside the euro zone could be an effective strategy for businesses in a dismal economy.
Global business travel spending is expected to grow in 2012 and 2013, due in large part to a surge in emerging markets such as Brazil, China, India and Russia. Companies in developed nations, however, are reining in travel budgets as the euro-zone crisis continues.
