New Survey Shows Ingenuity is Leading Industrial Companies Out of Recession

By DE Editors

A new national survey from ThomasNet shows professionals from manufacturing and industrial companies are not only optimistic about their ability to ride through the recent economic slowdown, but even expect to grow in 2009 as the economy shows signs of a rebound.

Among the 800 executives, managers, and engineers from small, midsize, and large companies responding to ThomasNet’s Industry Market Barometer survey, 76 percent say they think the US economy will improve by the second quarter of 2010 or sooner, and 35 percent expect their own businesses to grow by the end of this year. To be sure, the recession has not left these businesses unscathed. More than half (54 percent) report a decline in their businesses during the first half of 2009, mostly fueled by customer losses. But these companies are combining ingenuity with decisive action to direct their own rebounds, rather than wait for the economy to pick up steam. The majority (61 percent) don’t see the Federal Stimulus Package helping them.

These business leaders report taking a variety of actions to control their destinies. There is no single silver bullet for how they are going about it. Nearly three quarters (70 percent) are instituting new sales tactics, specifically: looking for business in new industries such as medical or aerospace, exploring new sales channels like distributors, and increasing their online marketing. Thirty-eight percent are developing new and innovative products.

For more information, visit ThomasNet.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.