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Planning for the future in 2015

Looking back at 2014, OMBs have mixed opinions on their business performance: for some it was the “best year ever” but for others it was a year of consolidation following rapid growth.

To understand the opportunities and risks facing OMBs in 2015, we conducted an in-depth survey in addition to interviewing key business leaders to provide depth to our research. The results reveal that economic and political uncertainties are causing widespread concern, have been captured and published in our latest report Planning for the future in 2015.

To view the full report please click here.

Key survey highlights

The majority of OMBs have high hopes for 2015:
 
  • 70% are confident about the general outlook, 75% are confident about meeting revenue targets and 70% are confident about hitting profit targets – results similar to last year.
  • OMBs are particularly focused on growing their UK customer base in 2015, but have other strategies too:
  • 40% are pursuing cost reductions – substantially more than last year (28%).
  • Increasing proportions of sales are expected to come from foreign markets over the next five years:
  • Developing economies are also being targeted, with one in five or more OMBs anticipating increased customer representation in Asia (27%), the Middle East (23%), China (23%), Africa (22%) and India (20%).
  • Economic uncertainty and competitive pressures dominate the risks OMBs perceive for 2015:
  • 39% are concerned about employee skills shortages.