Small and mid-size businesses need stability from the upcoming administration. Everything was so up in the air this year, so as CEOs, we need to know where we stand and what the plan is. Just the fact that someone's there and knows what issues to address is important.
Alex McKay President, CEO ARMA Design San Diego
The Voice of Main Street Business
The Vistage CEO Confidence Index is a compilation of responses from more than 2,000 CEOs of small- to mid-sized companies. The Vistage CEO Confidence Index began in Q1 2003 and is the largest and only comprehensive report of small and mid-size CEO opinions and projections.
Vistage CEO Confidence Index Jumps Unprecedented 15 Points
CEOs Moving From Recession to Recovery
SAN DIEGO (October 2, 2009) – There is a new surge of optimism among Main Street CEOs, according to the Vistage CEO Confidence Index. The Q3 Index recorded the highest quarterly gain in economic confidence since 2003. The quarterly CEO Confidence Index rose to 84.9, up from 69.0 in the 2nd quarter of this year and 48.7 percent in the last quarter of 2008.
“Half of the CEOs in our survey believe the economic recovery has begun,” says Rafael Pastor, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Vistage International. “More than 80 percent see their company revenues and profits increasing in the next 12 months. While Main Street CEOs do not expect the recovery to be easy, they are adopting new strategies for the new economic landscape.”
CEOs cited targeting new types of customers and developing new lines of products and services, as well as using social media and online marketing more, as their top three strategies to adapt to the new economic landscape. Also, 43 percent of the CEOs are currently doing or plan to do business internationally in the next 12 months, with Europe and China being the principal places to expand.