U.S., European Executives Upbeat

Ah, spring is in the air, and sunny skies are all business executives seem to be seeing these days, according to a raft of recent surveys. Take PricewaterhouseCoopers' most recent quarterly study of executives in the United States and Europe. Senior executives at multinational companies told the researcher they expect positive revenue growth in 2004, which is always a step in the right direction for solution providers looking for new sales, customers and territories. According to the study, nearly 80 percent of U.S. executives (an increase of 19 percentage points from the previous quarter) believe the U.S. economy is growing, and 90 percent (an increase of 7 points) expect their revenues to increase in the next 12 months. Just over half of the surveyed European executives expect a recovering economy, while 80 percent expect revenues to increase, as well.

On a slightly more conservative note, not all executives are quite ready to begin spending money or hire more workers. Approximately half of those surveyed have plans for major new investments in 2004. But only 16 percent plan to add workers in Europe; a more robust 49 percent of U.S. executives indicate positive hiring expectations.