BRIC countries companies optimist for 2008
Valor Econômico - 02/13/2008
The manufacturing companies of the group of countries known as Bric (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) are filled with optimism in relation to the business perspectives for the next 12 months, notwithstanding the moment of strong crisis in the American economy. According to the survey of the KPMG International consulting company, the Brazilian companies are more confident regarding the level of business activity this year - 77.5% believe it will increase and 1.2% that it will reduce. On the average of the Bric, 70% foresee an increase of the level of activity, whereas 5.9% believe in the fall. KPMG has surveyed 1.8 thousand companies in the four countries. The Brazilian companies are also those which show the greatest optimism regarding the level of orders and employment in 2008. According to the survey, 76.3% expect an increase in the number of orders this year, while 0.9% believes the number of orders will decrease. From the surveyed Brazilian companies, 54.2% plan on hiring more employees, a percentage well above that from China, where 31% of the companies intend to increase the number of employees this year. The manufacturing sector of the four countries is also optimist in relation to the perspective of revenues for the next 12 months: 71.1% of the companies expect growth. The belief in the gaining of new customers and new orders is the main factor that leads the companies of the four countries to bet on the increase of the revenues, followed by the perspective of launching new products and innovations, and and to bet on the increase of efficiency and management of costs. The Russian companies are the most optimist ones (81%), followed by the Brazilian ones, with 74.9%.