The Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) is the world's leading mid-market business survey. Launched in 1992 in nine European countries, the report now surveys more than 10,000 senior executives in 36 economies on an annual basis, providing insight into the economic and commercial issues affecting both listed and privately-held businesses.
Data collection
Data collection is managed by Millward Brown. Questionnaires are translated into local language with each participating country having the option to ask a small number of country specific questions in addition to the core questionnaire. Fieldwork is undertaken on a quarterly basis, primarily by telephone.
Sample
IBR is a survey of mid-market listed and privately held businesses. The definition of the mid-market varies by country; for example a mid-market business in the EU would typically have 50-499 employees; in the United States we interview businesses with annual revenues of USD20m to USD2bn; in China, those with 100-1000 employees. The target respondents are chief executive officers, managing directors, chairmen or other senior decision-makers.
Participating economies
| Region/group | Economies included in IBR |
| Africa | Botswana, Nigeria, South Africa |
| Asia-Pacific (APAC) | Australia, India, Japan, China (mainland), Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand |
| Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) | Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand |
| BRIC | Brazil, Russia, India, China (mainland) |
| Developed APAC | Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore |
| Eastern Europe | Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Turkey |
| Emerging APAC | China (mainland), India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand |
| European Union (EU) | Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom |
| G7 | Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States |
| Latin America | Argentina, Brazil, Mexico |
| MINT | Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey |
| North America | Canada, United States |
| Southern Europe | Greece, Italy, Spain |
IBR results dating back to 1992 can be found on our data visualisation tool
For more information about IBR please contact Dominic King, Editor, global research