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Uncertainty is dominating the economic discussion in the U.S. and around the globe. Chad Moutray, chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers and a board member for the National Association for Business Economics, recently spoke with MDM about the factors behind the uncertainty and what needs to be done to address the challenges. The entire interview with Moutray can be heard or downloaded at mdm.com/executivebriefing.
While the U.S. has technically been in recovery since 2009, “most Americans wouldn’t know it,” says Chad Moutray, chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers. Slow to near-stagnant growth coupled with anxiety and uncertainty about the future have led to an economy that appears to be “stuck in neutral.”
“If you ask manufacturers about how they’re doing, personally, their companies, many of them will tell you that their overall outlook is OK,” Moutray says. In NAM’s quarterly survey with IndustryWeek, 80 percent of manufacturer respondents said they were either “somewhat” or “very” positive about their companies’ outlook.
But tax policy and the overall regulatory environment continue to ...
Several surveys were released over the past couple of weeks that highlight issues that are challenging businesses in today’s economic environment, including health benefits costs, employee morale and the cost of travel. MDM summarizes these surveys below.
Small Business Confidence
Small businesses are seeing modest but steady improvement despite persistent uncertainty in the economy, according to Capital One’s second quarter 2012 Small Business Barometer.
On the hiring front, the survey found a two-year high in the percentage of small businesses (defined as $10 million or below) planning to add jobs over the next six months, with 37 percent planning to hire. The majority of small businesses report that their business financials have remained stable or improved, with 44 percent reporting improved financial position compared to one year ago. However, small business perceptions regarding local economic conditions remain relatively unchanged and the ...
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After a slight rebound in December, the manufacturing sector did not grow in January. New Orders remained positive, but little change has taken place as the PMI has averaged 50.5% in the past four months. In overall terms, manufacturing lost momentum in the second half of 2006 and is starting 2007 in a less than robust fashion, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
Results show a decline in the Inventories Index to the lowest level since February 2002, indicating a significant liquidation is taking place in many supply chains. ...
Company Snapshot
We strive to be problem-solvers in the marketplace by providing end-user training. It's a service the customer values and one that our competition can't easily duplicate. It adds real value to what we offer and helps us build stronger relationships with our end users.
More than eight years ago we began receiving requests from customers for maintenance-related training. We viewed these requests as opportunities for us to grow our business.
We sat down with those customers to determine the specific areas where they needed ...
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This is an overview of wholesale price inflation trends in the past year for commodities in industrial and construction channels. Overall, core inflation rose 1.1 percent in 2006 -a significant slowdown from 2005. But the Federal Reserve still sees inflation as a potential threat in the next year, albeit at lower levels.
Thanks to a slowdown in energy price increases, wholesale prices rose 1.1 percent in 2006, in contrast to the 5.4 percent rise in 2005, the Bureau of ...
Private label products—products branded by a wholesaler-distributor—represent a break from the more traditional wholesale distribution approach of reselling manufacturers' branded products. In our new research study, Facing the Forces of Change®: Lead the Way in the Supply Chain, we found that private label strategies by wholesaler-distributors will expand substantially over the next five years.
Private labels will strengthen wholesaler-distributors' relationships with their customers. However, they will strain distributors' relationships with their suppliers by challenging the wholesale distribution channel's traditional ...
Modern Distribution Management's November Inflation Index, which measures a cross-section of industrial supplies, was up 0.20% from the previous month, and up 4.04% from November 2005.
Summary of  ; MDM Inflation Index for the past 12 months:
November 2006 Index 266.5
October 2006 Index 265.9
September 2006 Index 265.6
August 2006 Index 265.2
July 2006 Index 264.0
June 2006 Index 263.0
May 2006 Index 262.1
April 2006 Index 262.1
March 2006 Index 262.1
Febuary 2006 Index 261.2
January 2006 Index 260.2
December 2005 Index 258.1
November 2005 Index  ; 256.1
Please click below on Related Document to view a detailed calculation of the  ; MDM Inflation Index for November 2006, listing the ten ...
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