1. Global Business Barometer October 2008 The Global Business Barometer is a quarterly business-confidence index, conducted for The Economist by the Economist Intelligence Unit

2. What are your expectations of global business conditions over the next six months?

3. What are your expectations of business conditions in your country of residence over the next six months?

4. What are your expectations of business conditions in your industry over the next six months?

5. What is your primary industry?

6. What are your organisation's global annual revenues in US dollars?

7. Which of the following best describes your title?

8. In how many countries does your organisation operate, including the country of headquarters?

9. In which country are you personally based? United States of America15.3%United Arab Emirates1.1%Denmark0.3% India10.6%Austria1.0%Ghana0.3% United Kingdom9.8%Finland0.9%Philippines0.3% China4.2%Ireland0.9%Qatar0.3% Germany4.1%Malaysia0.9%Romania0.3% Canada3.9%Norway0.9%Slovenia0.3% Italy3.5%Poland0.9%South Korea0.3% Singapore3.4%Thailand0.8%Bahrain0.2% Australia3.2%Colombia0.7%Chile0.2% Netherlands2.5%Pakistan0.6%Cyprus0.2% Spain2.5%Argentina0.5%Czech Republic0.2% Brazil2.0%Egypt0.5%Greece0.2% Belgium1.7%Indonesia0.4%Kenya0.2% Switzerland1.6%Iran0.4%Lithuania0.2% France1.5%Israel0.4%Malta0.2% Sweden1.5%Latvia0.4%Peru0.2% Hong Kong1.4%New Zealand0.4%Serbia0.2% Japan1.4%Portugal0.4%Tanzania0.2% Russia1.4%Taiwan0.4%Trinidad and Tobago0.2% South Africa1.3%Turkey0.4%Ukraine0.2% Mexico1.2%Bulgaria0.3%Venezuela0.2% Nigeria1.2%Croatia0.3%Other countries3.0%

10. Global Business Barometer by geography Global conditions Country conditions Industry conditionsIndex Change on previous quarter All regions-37.1-30.2-20.7-29.3-1.8 North America-39.4-39.1-26.0-34.8-11.7 Asia Pacific-38.5-15.5-20.5-24.8-1.1 European Union-38.1-47.8-24.3-36.72.0 Latin America-26.3-8.7-22.9-19.31.6 BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China)-33.1-6.0-9.3-16.1-0.9

11. Global Business Barometer by industry Global conditions Country conditions Industry conditionsIndex Change on previous quarter All industries-37.1-30.2-20.7-29.3-1.8 Financial services-33.1-23.9 -27.025.5 Professional services-40.9-38.6-14.2-31.2-11.2 IT & technology-28.2-22.2-9.0-19.84.7 Manufacturing-28.2-21.6-24.0-24.62.7 Entertainment, media & publishing-51.8-34.0-32.1-39.3-24.8 Healthcare, pharmaceuticals & biotech-34.6-30.0-13.7-26.1-5.9 Construction & real estate-42.5-42.6-53.2-46.1-24.2

12. Global Business Barometer

13. Sample and methodology This survey was conducted between mid-September and mid-October 2008. In total, 1,036 executives replied to the survey from a spread of industries, countries and company sizes. Respondents were drawn from the Economist Intelligence Unit’s panel of global executives and from the readership of Economist.com. More than 40% were board-level managers and over half worked for companies with more than $500m in annual revenues. The principal industries represented were professional services, IT and technology, financial services, and manufacturing. America provided the greatest number of respondents, with 154 respondents; the G7 and the BRIC countries accounted for 11 of the top 20 countries. The methodology for calculating the global business barometer is taken from the OECD’s 2003 handbook on business confidence surveys. Respondents must answer three questions about their expectations for future business conditions, each of which has three possible replies: better (+), same (=) and worse (-). The (-) percentage is subtracted from the (+) percentage for each question to give a net balance. The net balance is then averaged across each of the three questions to create a single index number. The results of the next barometer are due in January 2009.