Area Development
Three-quarters of respondents to Mckinsey & Company's latest survey expect their companies to enjoy a profit increase in the next year, and fewer than half expect to cut costs during the same period - both firsts since Mckinsey began conducting this survey in October 2008. On the whole, survey results indicate that executives see economies on the mend, with positive prospects for their countries - 84 percent expect national GDP to rise in 2010 - as well as for their companies.

Nonetheless, the results also show uncertainty and uneasiness about the future, particularly at the global level. In fact, 46 percent of the responding executives agreed that "constrained global markets [were likely to] perpetuate imbalances" in the global economy over the next three months. This view, along with a dip in the share of respondents who expect their national economies to be better in six months, implies a slight dampening of economic hopes since December. Low consumer demand is seen as the largest single threat to national economic recovery in developed economies.