Duke University/CFO Magazine Business Outlook Survey

No individual firms are identified and only aggregate data are made public. Please respond by September 8. If you have any questions about this survey, please contact us.

1. Are you more or less optimistic about your country's economy compared to last quarter?
More optimistic Less optimistic No change	Rate your optimism about the your country's economy on a scale from 0-100, with 0 being the least optimistic and 100 being the most optimistic.

2. Are you more or less optimistic about the financial prospects for your company compared to last quarter?
More optimistic Less optimistic No change	Rate your optimism about the financial prospects for your own company on a scale from 0-100, with 0 being the least optimistic and 100 being the most optimistic.

3. What are the top three external concerns facing your corporation? (rank #1, #2, #3)

   Consumer demand
   Cost of fuel
   Cost of non-fuel commodities
   Credit markets/interest rates
   Currency risk
   Environmental regulation
   National budget deficit
   National government agenda/policies

   Financial regulation
   Foreign competition
   Global financial instability
   Global political instability
   National employment outlook
   Price pressure from competitors
   State or local government budget deficits
   Other:

4. What are the top three internal, company-specific concerns for your corporation? (rank #1, #2, #3)

   Ability to forecast results
   Ability to maintain margins
   Attracting and retaining qualified employees
   Balance sheet weakness
   Cost of health care
   Counterparty risk
   Data security

   Maintaining morale/productivity
   Managing IT systems
   Pension obligations
   Protection of intellectual property
   Supply chain risk
   Working capital management
   Other:

5. Relative to the previous 12 months, what will be your company's PERCENTAGE CHANGE during the next 12 months? (e.g., +3%, -2%, etc.) [Leave blank if not applicable.]

   Capital spending
   Cash on the balance sheet
   Dividends
   Earnings
   Health care costs
   Marketing/advertising spending
   Number of domestic full-time employees
   Number of domestic temporary employees

   Number of offshore outsourced employees
   Prices of your products
   Productivity (output per hour worked)
   Technology spending
   Research and development spending
   Revenue
   Share repurchases
   Wages/Salaries

6. Are you concerned about the possibility of the U.S. entering recession within the next year?

  Not concerned at all
  A little concerned
  Moderately concerned
  Very concerned
  We are already in a recession
  No opinion / Not sure

7a. How much cash and marketable securities does your firm hold (as a percentage of total assets)?

On August 5th Standard & Poor's downgraded the US' credit rating for its long term sovereign debt from AAA to AA. This move has elicited strong reactions in both the political and business arena. The market reacted with heightened anxiety over the possibility of additional downgrades of other triple-A status countries, France in particular.

9a. Do you consider the S&P's US-downgrade to be justified?

  Yes
  No
  Don't know / Other

9b. In your opinion, what will be the impact of the US-downgrade on the global economy?

  Small
  Moderate
  Significant
  Don't know

Please explain briefly:

10. Taking the current economic environment and the individual fiscal and budgetary fundamentals into account, how would you rate the following economies?

11. In your opinion, which market is in the worst state, Europe or the US?

  The European debt crisis poses the largest risk to the global economy
  The US' mid and long term finances pose the largest risk to the global economy
  Both are as severe

12. If the US would fall back into recession, would you expect this to act as a catalyst to a Europe- wide recession as well?

Yes
No

13. The call for the creation of eurobonds is (re)gaining momentum. (A eurobond would be jointly issued and guaranteed by all member nations in the EU, versus each nation issuing its own bonds.) In your opinion, would the creation of a eurobond indeed be desirable?

  Yes
  No
  Don't know / Other

For manufacturing firms only:

% of capacity utilized in the first five months of 2011
% of capacity utilization planned for year-end 2011

d. Where are you personally located?

e. Ownership

	(Other specified)

If your company headquarters is located in another country, please indicate which country.	(Other specified)

      Public
      Private
      Government
      Nonprofit

f. Foreign Sales

g. What is your company's credit rating?

       0%
       1-24%
       25-50%
       More than 50%

Check here if you do not have a rating, and please estimate what your rating would be.

h. What do you estimate is your firm's overall weighted average cost of capital for 2011? (e.g., 11.2%)	i. Your job title (e.g., CFO, Asst. Treasurer, etc.)
%

Tilburg University - CFO - Duke University Global Business Outlook Survey Third Quarter 2011

Tilburg University - CFO - Duke University
Global Business Outlook Survey
Third Quarter 2011