China's decision makers still optimistic

Shanghai - Despite the gloom descending on the economic landscape, business decision makers across China remain optimistic and not skeptical about the future.

The majority of business decision makers in China still see risk as a critical factor and say they are "somewhat insulated" from the financial turmoil happening outside of China.

These are the findings from the latest Business MindReader survey conducted throughout October by media buying group Mindshare.

The research, which interviewed 691 business decision makers across China, shows that the majority of those surveyed (88%) said they are optimistic about the future and feel insulated from the financial turmoil gripping the world.

Top-level decision makers are ready to face economic uncertainty, Jeffrey Tan, partner of invention-Insights at Mindshare Shanghai, said.

"Despite recent unemployment figures and the global financial crisis, most are clinging to optimism and are refusing to be skeptical about the future faced by their business", he said.

According to the survey, the key worry for high-level decision makers is economic uncertainty with more than three-quarters (83%) of those surveyed stating that this is a major concern.

However, even though these decision makers have worries about the economy, the majority (72%) consider finding and keeping talent a priority.

In terms of media habits, 90% said they use the internet everyday compared to TV which is sits at 74%. When asked which media they loved the most, the internet came out tops at 88% while the rest lagged behind: newspapers (23%), magazines (23%) and TV (19%).

However this does not mean that TV is redundant as close to half of all BDMs said they loved watching CCTV (45%) and Discovery Channel (40%).