Economy

UK small businesses have been left in two minds on the implications of the Chancellor's swan song Budget. Less than a third (30%) think it will be good or fairly good for business, while 16 per cent feel that it would be fairly bad.

British public have optimism over their own futures - but are less cheery over the country's prospects

There is agreement among Chief Financial Officers that private equity succeeds because there is greater freedom for management to make huge financial rewards and because investors can manage for cash value, not for accounting profit and EPS.

More than 50% say there are too many varieties on supermarket shelves; current products felt to be over-packaged by many

This report reviews the debate about retail and regeneration, spotlighting those people actually working in (or who have worked in) the retail sector. At the heart of this report are the findings of a survey by Ipsos of a nationally representative sample of the adult general public, undertaken in two waves of omnibus during 2006.

The National Audit Office (NAO) commissioned Ipsos to conduct qualitative research to understand the perspectives of former employees about the support and information they received from central government funded public bodies following the closure of MG Rover. The research provides an insight into the reactions of 38 people who have had to deal with the wide ranging financial and social implications of being made redundant at very short notice. The NAO's wider study on the closure of MG Rover was taken as evidence by the Public Accounts Committee on 20 March 2006.

Since 1999 BIE has annually commissioned Ipsos to undertake a poll of Captains of Industry. The aim of the poll is to ascertain their awareness and assess their views on executive interim management in the UK.

Ipsos interviewed investment decision makers for 114 major UK institutional investors (mainly Pension Funds, and all with a portfolio of £350m+) by telephone between 15th December 2005 and 27th January 2006 on behalf of Nikko Asset Management, one of Japan's largest asset management companies.

Corporate reputation and perceived leadership quality are of crucial importance to financial analysts' ratings and opinions, according to a major survey on corporate reputation. Return on Reputation is the latest of Hill & Knowlton's Corporate Reputation Watch studies, conducted with Ipsos. In the survey, 282 financial analysts in North America, Europe and Asia were asked about reputation and its impact on their opinions and ratings of companies.