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Methodology

This year’s BDO survey records the responses of a specific group of people: the CFOs of internationally growing medium-sized companies​
In the inaugural BDO Ambition Survey in 2010 we surveyed 237 ‘c-suite’ executives with a variety of job titles in ten countries. This year we have expanded our research to cover 13 countries and have narrowed the respondents to Chief Financial Officers (CFOs - or their equivalent). The number of interviews conducted has increased considerably to 751.
 
The businesses we interviewed represent businesses across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America:
 
  • Australia
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Japan
  • Netherlands
  • Russia
  • Saudi Arabia
  • UK
  • USA
 
This year’s BDO survey records the responses of a specific group of people: the CFOs of internationally growing medium-sized companies. These entities can be seen as the ‘growth engines’ of global trade, and this survey documents the opinions and aspirations of those responsible for finance and investment. We look at where CFOs are focusing their international expansion, what their mood is and ask for their practical advice on the primary success factors when expanding overseas.
 
751 interviews were conducted across 13 countries with CFOs, Financial Directors and other Heads of Finance. All respondents’ titles refer to their entire organisation (i.e. not a division or subsidiary) and all report to the CEO or similar. Strict screening was employed to produce credible executive research for use both at a global and country level.
 
All interviews were conducted by telephone between 23 May and 8 July 2011 and lasted +/- 20 minutes. Interviewees were sourced from Dun & Bradstreet, Hoovers and other internationally respected lists, augmented by Chambers of Commerce, with company details as follows:
  • Size: globally aspiring medium-sized companies with revenues of between US$50m - US$1bn
  •  International profile: respondent companies have at least one international office and /or export internationally
  • Industry sector: respondent companies were sampled from the following sectors, using Dun & Bradstreet counts in each country when setting quotas:
    •  Financial services
    • Manufacturing
    • Real estate & construction
    • Technology, media & telecommunications
    •  Retail
    • Natural resources
    • Professional services
    • Tourism, leisure & hospitality
    • Transport and utilities

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