Duke University/CFO
Global Business Outlook Survey
Second Quarter 2012

No individual firms are identified and only aggregate data are made public. Please respond by May 30. If you have any questions about this survey, please contact us.

1. Are you more or less optimistic about the U.S. economy compared to last quarter?
More optimistic Less optimistic No change	Rate your optimism about the U.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
   Federal budget deficit
   Federal 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)
   Research and development spending
   Revenue
   Share repurchases
   Technology spending
   Wages/Salaries

6a. How much cash and marketable securities does your firm hold (as a percentage of total assets)?

% Today
% One Year Ago

6b. Is it likely that your firm will begin to deploy its cash reserves during the next 12 months?

  No
  Yes
  Not sure

7. Is a portion of your firm's budget being invested in pursuit of major innovations - projects that, if successful, would have a significant impact on your business?

Yes
No

8a. How big a risk factor is business corruption (fraud, bribery, other ethical violations) in the country where you are located?

Not a significant factor				Very significant factor
1	2	3	4	5

8b. To the extent that corruption exists, what would you say are its major effects? (Check all that apply)

  Hinders the expansion process
  Increases the price of goods/services
  Limits competition
  Reduces the quality of goods/services

  Reduces tax revenues collected by the government
  Speeds the expansion process
  Other

9a. At what capacity are your firm’s physical assets being used?	9b. At what capacity is your firm’s workforce being used?
Maxed out Optimally utilized Somewhat underutilized Highly underutilized	Maxed out Optimally utilized Somewhat underutilized Highly underutilized

10a. What do you estimate is your firm's overall weighted average cost of capital (WACC)? (e.g., 11.2%)	10b. What is your firm's 'hurdle rate' (the rate of return that an investment must beat in order to be adopted)?
%	%

10c. For projects that are novel or highly uncertain due to being highly innovative, do you increase the required hurdle rate?

  Yes
  No
  N/A

How do you decide how high to set the hurdle rate for projects that are novel or highly innovative?

10d. Suppose that last week you approved a project that just meets your hurdle rate (e.g., hurdle rate=13% and project return =13.2%). We are trying to get a sense of what changes in economy-wide interest rates might stop or delay this project. Suppose economic growth and unemployment are expected to remain about the same but inflation expectations increase. This causes long-term corporate interest rates to increase this week by 1%.
Would this 1% increase in interest rates cause you to delay or stop the project? No Maybe Yes	What if interest rates increased by 2%, would you delay or stop? No Maybe Yes	Comments:

10e. We are trying to get a feel for whether firms pursue all projects that beat the hurdle rate. Among projects that you could fund if you wanted to, and that you have the management time and expertise to implement – do you pursue all these projects?

  Yes, pursue all
  No, do not pursue all
  N/A

11. On May 15, 2012 the annual yield on 10-yr treasury bonds was 1.8%. Please complete the following:

a. Over the next 10 years, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will be:

Worst Case: There is a 1-in-10
chance the actual average
return will be less than:

%

Best Guess:
I expect the
return to be:

%

Best Case: There is a 1-in-10
chance the actual average
return will be greater than:

%

b. During the next year, I expect the S&P 500 return will be:

Worst Case: There is a 1-in-10
chance the actual return will
be less than:

%

Best Guess:
I expect the
return to be:

%

Best Case: There is a 1-in-10
chance the actual return will
be greater than:

%

Please check one from each category that best describes your company:

a. Industry

       Retail/Wholesale
       Mining/Construction
       Manufacturing
       Transportation/Energy
       Communications/Media

      Tech [Software/Biotech]
      Banking/Finance/Insurance
      Service/Consulting
      Healthcare/Pharmaceutical
      Other:

b. Sales Revenue	c. Number of Employees
Less than $25 million $25-$99 million $100-$499 million $500-$999 million $1-$4.9 billion $5-$9.9 billion More than $10 billion	Fewer than 100 100-499 500-999 1,000-2,499 2,500-4,999 5,000-9,999 More than 10,000

d. Where are you personally located?

e. Ownership

      Public, NYSE
      Public, NASDAQ/AMEX
      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. Your job title (e.g., CFO, Asst. Treasurer, etc.)

Duke University/CFOGlobal Business Outlook Survey Second Quarter 2012

Duke University/CFO
Global Business Outlook Survey
Second Quarter 2012