Bosses 'are confident on economy'

By Tim Weber
Business editor, BBC News website, in Davos

China remains an economic hotspot

The global economy could be set for growth, with most bosses of large companies saying they are optimistic about their business's future.

More than 90% of them predict growing revenues over the next three years, a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey suggests.

Their biggest worries are too much regulation, a shortage of skilled workers and low-cost competitors.

Opinions are split over climate change, which 58% of Asian bosses but just 18% of US chief executives see as a threat.

Gene Donnelly, global managing partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, explains this with the fact that "America is notorious for having a short-term perspective".

He hastens to add, though, that earlier this week some of the United States' largest companies and users of energy - GE, DuPont and Alcoa among them - got together to call for sharp cutbacks in carbon emissions, which are blamed for global warming.

Growth markets

Predictably, the survey of more than 1,100 chief executives across 50 countries identifies China and India as the biggest opportunities for growth, alongside Russia and Brazil.

But a number of other nations are also coming up on the corporate radar including Mexico, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea and Turkey.

For companies in developed countries, cost-cutting is not the main driver for outsourcing to regions any more.

And Mr Donnelly believes that these firms have already exploited the opportunities to cut costs.

Now, he says, they take a "new look at their business models" and search for partners to develop markets and conduct research and development.

Instead, the study observed, executives of large firms emerging in developing countries are actively seeking ways to drive down cost through outsourcing.