CEOs sound off on economic outlook

Dallas CEOs feel great about the local economy. The national outlook? Not so much. Cox School of Business professors Miguel Quiñones and Robert Rasberry asked DFW-area chief executives about everything from leadership issues to the local labor force to the cost of living. The sometimes surprising results make up the first SMU Cox CEO Sentiment Survey, a collaboration with DallasCEO magazine that captures the current zeitgeist among the North Texas business class.

Those results include the finding that 70 percent of Dallas-area CEOs believe local economic conditions are improving, yet only 41 percent think the U.S. economy will do the same. The number 62 factors in as both the percentage of CEOs who expect higher profits over the next year, and the percentage who think the DFW work force is “adequate.” The executives also rank the area’s top three contributors to quality of life as cost of living (a whopping 54.7 percent), weather and climate, and quality of travel and transportation infrastructure.

As the survey continues, the annual results will form the SMU Cox CEO Sentiment Index, which will “[highlight] trends in leadership thinking and [uncover] factors most critical to business success,” says DallasCEO. “But even in its inaugural year, the survey provides a unique insight into the minds of the individuals that keep Dallas’ business engine firing on all cylinders.”

Learn more at the Cox School of Business Web site.