WorldCity Business Magazine

06 CEO Survey 2008

by WC

The good news: Almost two-thirds of the heads of Latin America operations who responded to our third annual CEO Roundtable poll say 2008 has been better so far than 2007 at the same time.

The bad news: Thats down from 75 percent in 2007 and from 78 percent two years ago, when WORLDCITY began polling those executives who have attended one of WORLDCITYS CEO Roundtables.

Call it optimism with an asterisk.

WORLDCITY sent its on-line, non-scientific poll to 96 men and women who have participated in one of our monthly CEO Roundtables in the last three years and who, generally speaking, oversee Latin America operations for a South Florida-based multinationals.

More than 63 percent responded, taking an average of six minutes to complete the survey. The CEO Roundtable is a monthly event for four to five of these executives. It focuses on two broad
themes: Hows business? and What keeps you awake at night? Like this opinion poll it is sponsored by the law firm Fuerst Humphrey & Ittleman. WorldCity is now extending the CEO Roundtable to include six luncheons per year for all of the previous participants.

The executives who have attended, having risen to the tops of their organizations, are generally accomplished and, not surprisingly, optimists. So that optimism remained in the 2008 results, if
muted, and extended to other questions as well. For example, almost 60 percent indicated they are hiring, certainly a higher figure that you will expect to hear from a company about its U.S.-based operations.

But that too is down to a three-year low, from 68 percent in 2007 and 66 percent in 2006. The number of respondents who believe that growth has been strong in recent years and is likely to
continue that way dropped from a robust 45 percent to 35 percent. The respondents are a little wobbly on their faith in their own companys competitiveness as well, with 44 percent saying their operations were making significant strides in competitiveness and productivity, down from 52 percent in 2007 and 63 percent in 2006. WC