ACCORDING TO Öhrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers most recent report, business managers from emerging markets, as opposed to managers from traditional economies, have a positive view of the future. A little more than 500 business leader from 31 emerging markets were interviewed on their views of the future. In Asia, which beams with optimism, 68 percent believe that his or her own company will grow during the year to come (the overall number is 64 percent). This is higher than the responses from business leaders in mature markets - only 41 percent have faith in their own capability during the year to come.
– Already in our report “Global CEO Survey”*, published last January, we concluded that optimism in emerging markets is distinctly more significant than that of business leaders in traditional ones. The present report is yet another reflection on this development and clearly indicates that the Asian region and the BRICK countries are economically detaching themselves from large markets like the US and Europe, says Henrik Steinbrecher, responsible for Corporate Finance at Öhrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers in Stockholm. According to the most recent data, emerging markets represent 45 percent of total global exports and 75 percent of total foreign exchange reserves.
AS THE EMERGING MARKETS parade enormous growth rates and the majority of the survey participants (CEOs) from these regions point out that this growth is fuelled primarily by equity, the question is if the increasingly independent emerging markets will still depend on the ups an downs of the world economy, says Henrik Steinbrecher.
– The risks with continued growth in these markets are that galloping food and oil prices will affect them in the end. If a decline in the world economy becomes deep and lengthy, it may affect exports from these markets in a negative way, says Henrik Steinbrecher.
HENRIK STEINBRECHER'S advice to companies willing to ride the success wave of the emerging markets is to be open to these countries, their companies and ideas.
– As the report indicates, there is capital in these economies and the export share of the local economies’ GNP increases substantially. For this reason, it is very interesting to export to as well as expand in these countries.
Emelie Ring, Editor