8/14/2019 CEOsFaceRecession

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B U S I N E S S P U L S E

Executive Summary: Data Collected 

December 5-12, 2008 

CEOs see

a Threat/

Opportunity

 A Special Report from Nicolet Bank

Do you view the currenteconomic situation as more of athreat to your business or as anopportunity for your business?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

GoodsProducing

Service

A Threat Opportunity

60%

40%45%

55%

In October, at the End of the Third Quarter, CEO Confidencein Northeastern Wisconsin hadfallen to its lowest level in 30

consecutive quarters of reporting by The Nicolet Bank Business

 Pulse©. Since then, on top of everything else, the governmentofficially declared us in a recession.How are CEOs responding?What have they done already?What will they do today? Whatare they planning to do within12 months?

Half Empty/Half Full?CEOs in Northeastern Wisconsinare evenly divided: 50% seethe current economic situationas a Threat; 50% see it as anOpportunity. CEOs in goodsproducing sectors of the economyare somewhat more likely to seethe current situation as a threat(60%) compared with those in theservice sector (45%). CEOs in the

service sector are somewhat morelikely to see the current situationas an opportunity (55%) comparedwith 40% of those in goodsproducing companies.

CEOs have already taken steps todeal with the current and futureconditions: 47% have put inplace additional internal expense

controls; 42% have increasedbusiness development activities;42% initiated a hiring freeze;36% increased communicationwith their employees regardingpay; 35% reduced bonuses;32% increased communicationwith employees regarding benefit32% reduced employee travel;31% increased their strategicplanning efforts.

Twenty-seven percent havedowngraded or eliminated theChristmas/Holiday Party; 26%have reduced staff or laid off employees; 22% increasedemployee contribution to thehealth insurance plan; 17%increased their marketingexpenditures; 15% restructured;14% reduced other employeeprograms; 13% reduced benefits;

10% reduced salaries; 10% reducethe workweek; 9% reducedthe 401(k) match; 6% reducedemployee training; 3% acquired/are acquiring weaker competitors

CEOs have taken immediateaction to control costs with aslittle pain to their workforce aspossible by implementing costcontrols, freezing hiring, reducingbonuses, reducing travel and

communicating more frequentlywith employees.

8/14/2019 CEOsFaceRecession

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What changes have CEOs already made?

0% 10% 20% 30% 50%40%

Additional Internal Expense Controls

Increase Business Development Activities

Hiring Freeze

Increase Communication Regarding Pay

Reduce Bonuses

Increase Communication Regarding Benefits

Reduce Employee Travel

Increase Strategic Planning Efforts

Downgrade or Eliminate Company Holiday Party

Reduce or Lay off Employees

Raise Employee Contribution to Health Insurance

Increase Marketing Expenditures

Restructure Organization

Reduce Other Employee Programs

Reduce Benefits

Salary Reductions

Reduce Workweek

Reduce 401K Match

Reduce Employee Training

Acquire Weaker Competitors

47%

42%

42%

36%

35%

32%

32%

31%

27%

26%

22%

17%

15%

14%

13%

10%

10%

9%

6%

3%

How the Survey is Conducted

The Nicolet Bank Business Pulse ©  is a Quarterly Study of CEOs in NE Wisconsin (Brown, Calumet,Door, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Marinette, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano, Winnebago Counties) andMenominee, Michigan. It is designed and implemented by IntellectualMarketing, LLC.

Participants include: 28% in manufacturing; 25% in services; 18% retail trade; 5% wholesale trade;6% finance, real estate, insurance; 5% in transportation, communications, utilities; 6% in construction;7% in other industries. 19% have fewer than 6 employees; 33% have 6-25; 17% have 26-50;8% 51-100; 16% 101-250; 3% 251-500; 3% 501-1,000; 2% have 1,001 or more.

QUESTIONS to Dr. David G. Wegge (920) 217-7738; david@intellectualmarketing.com

What’s Next?

The next action for CEOs isto decide what to do in thecoming year: 49% of the CEOssay they are most likely toincrease their efforts in strategicplanning. This is followed byassertive action to increase

business development activities(43%) and their marketingefforts (40%).

There are very few differencesbetween goods producingcompanies and service providingcompanies on the actionsnecessary to meet currentconditions. Goods producingcompanies are somewhat morelikely to increase communication

with employees: 45% of goodproducing companies havealready done so; 38% expectto next year. Thirty-two percentof service companies havealready done so; 27% expectto next year.

Greater communication toemployees among goodsproducing companies may bea result of goods producing

companies feeling somewhatmore threaten by the currenteconomic conditions. Goodsproducing companies are alsomuch more likely to increasetheir business developmentactivities in the new year with62% saying they plan to takethis action - compared with 33%of service providing companies.

Comparison withNational CEOs

The results of  The Nicolet 

 Bank Business Pulse© arecomparable to a nationalsurvey of CEOs conducted byWatson Wyatt in mid-October(www.watsonwyatt.com).On only two actions do theresults differ substantially:

CEOs in NEWi are more likelyto have initiated a hiringfreeze (42% in NEWi v 30%

Nationally) and to haveincreased communicationwith employees regarding pay(36% in NEWi v 18% Nationally).The differences could beattributed to the timing of thesurveys: Watson Wyatt surveywas conducted in October before additional negative

news about the state of theeconomy had hit the streets.The Nicolet Bank Business

 Pulse© was conducted inDecember 5-12.