A WSJ/Gallup Survey: Most Executives See Their Firms Continuing Steady Recovery in '84 By Mike Connelly Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Top business executives expect their companies to do better this year, continuing their recovery from the recession.</br></br>They figure their companies will make more money this year. They plan to hire more people and raise employees' pay. They plan to increase capital spending and maintain the same amount of borrowing. And they expect their employees' productivity to increase.</br></br>"I look for a good year," says the head of a small wholesale company. "Tourist business in our area is going up, and that helps our business." Says the owner of a retail greeting-cards business: "There is less hesitation on the part of the consumer." Adds the chief executive officer of a steel company: "It's going to get better."</br></br>These are among the findings of a Wall Street Journal/Gallup survey of 822 executives. Results are based on telephone interviews with 317 chief executives selected from the 1,350 largest U.S. corporations, 303 chief executives from medium-sized companies and the heads of 202 small companies. The interviews were conducted during a three-week period in early December.</br></br>The executives are optimistic. Only a few -- slightly more than one in 10 executives at large and medium-sized companies and slightly fewer than two in 10 at small companies -- think their businesses won't recover fully from the recession.