The results of the fourth quarter Georgia CEO survey suggests that Georgia business leaders feel more optimistic about the current business conditions in Georgia compared to the previous surveys. The purpose of the surveys is to better understand how general business conditions are impacting Georgia CEO subscribers on a quarterly basis. Georgia CEO partners with the Bureau of Business Research and Economic Development (BBRED), a member of the College of Business at Georgia Southern University, to prepare, distribute and analyze the survey.  

In the fourth quarter of 2016, participants were feeling positive about current business conditions in Georgia. Looking forward to the first quarter of 2017, participants are very optimistic that future business conditions will improve in Georgia. This is a major shift from the previous survey where the respondents felt only slightly positive about business conditions.“Many participants have an optimistic view going into 2017. Generally, participants are hoping that certainty is returning to the business world,” said Ben McKay, research specialist at BBRED.

When asked directly for their outlook on Georgia business conditions, 59 percent of respondents expected business conditions to be better over the next three months. This is a major shift from the previous survey where only 44 percent saw the business conditions as improving.

Looking back over the past three months, participants’ optimistic outlooks were linked to increasing confidence in the volume of business (i.e. project requests and foot traffic), sales (i.e. deal flow) and financial performance (i.e. bottom line results). This increase in confidence has not yet resulted in participants feeling that hiring will also improve. 

Approximately 31 percent of respondents anticipated increasing their level of out-of-state business activities. This increase of 25 percent from the previous survey could potentially grow the Georgia economy. When business is done out of state, it can increase demand for goods and services produced within the state.

Factors influencing the views of participants are government policy which includes the end of the presidential election, demand for goods and services, shortage of skilled labor, and industrial competition. These factors all improved in this survey and are driving optimism to a higher level than has been previously reported to the research team.

A convenience sampling technique was used for this study and the questionnaire was emailed to subscribers of one of the nine Georgia CEO daily newsletters. Georgia CEO publishes a newsletter in Albany, Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Middle Georgia, Newnan, Savannah and Valdosta. The survey was open from January 4, 2017 through January 16, 2017 and 250 valid responses were collected. The majority of participants work for companies that employ less than 9 employees (27 percent) or more than 250 employees (26 percent).