Duke University/CFO
Global Business Outlook Survey
Second Quarter 2014

No individual firms are identified and only aggregate data are made public. Please respond by June 5. 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. Which of the following are concerns for your company over the next 12 months?
  Not a
Concern		 Small
Concern		 Medium
Concern		 Big
Concern		 N/A
Access to borrowing
Cost of borrowing
Regulatory requirements
Corporate tax code
Government Policies
Inflation
Deflation
Economic Uncertainty
Currency Risk
Underlying demand for your product/services
Input or commodity costs
Wages and salaries
Cost of benefits
Employee morale/productivity
Attracting and retaining qualified employees
Other:  

4. 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

5a. How much cash and marketable securities does your firm hold (as a percentage of total assets)?
   % Today
   % One Year Ago		 What percentage of your cash and marketable securities is held outside of your headquarter country?
% Held outside of headquarter country

5b. Is it likely that your firm will begin to deploy its cash reserves during the next 12 months?
  No
  Yes
  Not sure

5c. As your firm decides how much cash to hold, do you have an explicit “target” or “range” for the amount of cash and marketable securities to hold?
  No target
  Yes, flexible target/range
  Yes, somewhat tight target/range
  Yes, strict target/range
  N/A

5d. What percentage of your holdings of cash and marketable securities can be described by each of the following explanations? (Your allocations should sum to 100. If 40% of your target cash and marketable securities is attributable to one option, enter 40 for that option and allocate the remaining 60 across the other options.)
   Precautionary-cash flows (in case of unexpected negative shocks to cash inflows or required outflows)
   Precautionary-external funds (in case of unexpected negative shocks reducing access to external funding)
   Investment opportunities (plan to spend on capital spending, acquisitions, expansion, etc.)
   Transactions (to facilitate everyday payments and transactions)
   Compensating balances (held in bank accounts to maintain/improve terms with banks)
   Trapped Cash (not available for easy use without paying material costs such as taxes)
   Regulatory Requirements (held for regulatory reasons, capital requirements, etc.)
   Other:  
   Total

6a. The Edelman Trust Barometer has shown a decline in public trust of business and government officials during the past year. Only one-in-five citizens believe that government and business officials will tell the truth regardless of how unpopular the truth would be. To what degree, if any, has a lack of public trust in business and government affected...  
     Your company?
       A great deal
        Moderately
        Very little
        Not at all
        N/A		 Your business environment?
   A great deal
  Moderately
  Very little
  Not at all
  N/A

6b. How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements in relation to public concerns about business trust?
  Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
Public perceptions and trust considerations affect my company's business decisions.
Our revenues are lower because of a lack of public trust.
We use marketing and public relations to counteract the lack of public trust.
We have strengthened our governance policies and procedures.
We have emphasized increased transparency in our business dealings and reporting.
We have made organizational changes in response to the lack of public trust.
Stronger regulation of businesses or new regulations are needed to improve public trust.
Other (please specify):  

7. What would the impact be on your country's economy if severe financial sanctions were imposed by the U.S. and Europe (including restrictions in intra-bank transactions through the SWIFT system) on Russia as a result of activity in Ukraine?
  Moderate Negative
  Severe Negative
  No impact
  Positive
  N/A		   Check here if you do not typically conduct Russian-related business

7b. Has your company reduced your Russian-related activity?
  No, our plans are to maintain our usual amount of Russian-related business activity
  No, but we are evaluating whether to reduce Russian-related business activity
  Yes, we are reducing or have reduced Russian-related business because: 
  Other:  

8. Do you expect labor unrest (e.g,. strikes, work stoppages) to affect your country's economy over the next 12 months?
  Yes
  No

9. On May 19, 2014 the annual yield on 10-yr treasury bonds was 2.5%. 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
       Northeast U.S.
       Mountain U.S.
       Midwest U.S.
       South Central U.S.
       South Atlantic U.S.
       Pacific U.S.		  Canada
 Latin America
 Europe
 Asia
 Africa
 Other 
      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. Does your company have a bank line of credit?     i. Debt-to-Total Assets ratio 
       ( (Short + Long Term Debt) / Assets) x 100
  Yes
  No


     %
  j. Return on assets (ROA=operating earnings/assets)
      (e.g., -5%, 6.2%)		     k. Your job title (e.g., CFO, Asst. Treasurer, etc.)
   % Approximate ROA in 2013
   % Expected ROA in 2014


     




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