Deloitte’s Value Initiative worked with Duke University and CFO Magazine to understand the impact of the current economy on company priorities, concerns and strategic focus.

Key findings include:

• Consumer demand dominated external concerns, with 58 percent of respondents naming it in their top three concerns and 31 percent naming it as their top concern. Credit markets and interest rates were second, with fuel costs third. (Fuel costs were No. 1 last quarter.)
• Attracting and retaining qualified employees was the dominant internal concern, with nearly 64 percent of respondents naming it in their top three concerns and 27 percent naming it their top concern. It was the top internal concern for six of the nine industries. Manufacturing was the anomaly, with a very dominant concern around supply-chain risks.

The Global Business Outlook Survey is a quarterly survey of approximately 1,300 financial executives from a broad range of public and private companies. For 50 consecutive quarters, the survey has revealed chief financial officer (CFO) expectations and sentiments across a broad range of business issues.

For the Third Quarter 2008 survey, the survey team worked with Deloitte to add a question around companies' strategic focus for 2009 and to look at results through an industry lens. “Our hypothesis was that adding this question and analysis would generate additional insights around what companies are actually doing based on their concerns and expectations –providing a sense of how internal and external concerns are translated into action,” explains Greg Dickinson, director, Deloitte Services LP. John Graham, survey director and finance professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, added, “This new analysis provided deeper insights around the strategic priorities of companies, and also allowed us to see differences across industries.”

Analysis focused on U.S. company responses to four questions – three original survey questions, plus the new question about strategic focus.

1. Impact of current economic conditions on investment plans, hiring plans and cost-cutting efforts
2. Top external concerns facing companies
3. Top internal concerns facing companies
4. Strategic focus for 2009

Related Content:
Overview: CFO Center
Overview: Driving Enterprise Value 

_{As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte & Touche LLP, Deloitte Tax LLP, Deloitte Consulting LLP and Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP. These entities are separate subsidiaries of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.}