While companies operating in mature economies are forced to make cuts, many companies in emerging economies are investing full steam ahead. At least this is the picture that emerges from a report by Grant Thornton International Business, entitled “The global economy in 2012: a rocky road to recovery”. According to the study, in Latin America 53% of companies plan to increase productive investments in the next 12 months, 35% will add new resources in research and development and 26% will invest in real estate. These ambitions are similar to those of companies in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) where 47% of companies will increase R&D investment, 42% will devote more resources to plant and equipment, and 25% to new real estate.
The scenario is very different for EU countries where companies planning to invest in real estate are only 11% (6% in Spain, Portugal, Greece and Ireland) and investment prospects are very weak in all other fields. The report also notes the deep dissatisfaction of the "Bric" economies (Brazil, India, Russia and China) which find the local infrastructure insufficient to support a competitive business environment. In India, a third of companies point to bad transportation and inefficient technological infrastructure as one of the biggest obstacles to business development.
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