Survive and prosper: emerging markets in the global recession

This is a UKTI report written in collaboration with the Economist Intelligence Unit. It examines opportunities within emerging markets in the context of the current economic climate.

Many companies have felt the adverse effects of the global recession, which, coupled with the poor performance of the developed world, has increased the need for companies to seek new markets in the emerging world. It follows September 2008’s ‘Tomorrow’s Markets’, also written by UKTI in conjunction with the Economist Intelligence Unit.

To gauge opinion, the Economist Intelligence Unit conducted a global survey of over 540 companies from 19 business sectors. Over 40 per cent worked for companies headquartered in emerging markets: the remainder were from companies based in developed countries.

Almost half (48 per cent) were small and medium-sized companies with annual global revenues of US$500 million or below. Eighteen per cent had global revenues of US$10 billion or above. Just under half (48 per cent) of the interviewed executives were C-suite or board members across a wide range of business functions