The Sales Managers' Indexes provide the earliest monthly data on the speed and direction of economic activity in key growth areas of the world.
The SMI’s (Sales Managers’ Indexes) are compiled and analysed by World Economics and are based on survey data collected from a panel of companies stratifying all Industry Classification Board (ICB) sectors which are weighted to reflect their contribution to national Gross Domestic Product.
Key advantages of the SMI's:
- The SMI's provide the first indication each month of the speed and direction of economic growth.
- The SMI's provide the most complete indication of growth, covering all private sector activity.
- The SMI's are based on a key occupational group - sales executives - uniquely able to sense accurate changes in business activity levels.
- The SMI survey base - salespeople - are used by virtually all businesses, including in frontier markets, unlike other occupational groups.
- The SMI's focus on the key countries contributing to over 60% of global growth in recent years.
Latest SMI releases
GLOBAL: Global Growth Prospects Looking Good
November Sales Managers Survey data suggests that the three biggest engines of global growth are - at last - all indicating renewed global growth. Almost all Sales Indexes in China, the USA and India are now either positive or moving in a positive direction.
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CHINA: China Growth Accelerates In November
The Chinese economy appears to be on the move again. Significant growth is evident in the Services sector. And Manufacturing, despite some companies still impacted by the after effects of Covid, is becoming more positive about the future.
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UNITED STATES: US Sales Managers Growth Index Rises To New Highs In November
INDIA: Indian Business Confidence At A 44-Month High
The Indian economy continues to grow rapidly. The Business Confidence Index shows "animal spirits", the essential ingredient in economic growth, to be burgeoning, highlights the likelihood of fast growth over the first quarter of 2024. The Market Growth Index indicates robust growth across a wide spectrum of sectors, and the Sales Growth Index continuing month-on-month growth.
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Notes & Methodology
The SMI’s (Sales Managers’ Indexes) are compiled and analysed by World Economics and are based on survey data collected from a global panel of over 4500 companies stratifying all Industry Classification Board (ICB) sectors which are weighted to reflect their contribution to national Gross Domestic Product for each country/region.
The Sales Managers’ Index results are diffusion indexes which are calculated by taking the percentage of respondents that report that activity has risen (“Increasing") and adding it to one-half of the percentage that report the activity has not changed (“Unchanged"). Using half of the “Unchanged" percentage effectively measures the bias toward a positive (above 50 points) or negative (below 50 points) index. An example of how to calculate a diffusion index: if the response is 40% “Increasing," 40% “Unchanged," and 20% “Reducing," the Diffusion Index would be 60 points (40% + [0.50 x 40%]). A value of 50 indicates "no change" from the previous month.
The more distant the index is from the amount that would indicate "no change" (50 points), the greater the rate of change indicated. Therefore, an index value of 58 indicates a faster rate of increase than an index value of 53, and an index value of 40 indicates a faster rate of decrease than an index value of 45. A value of 100 indicates all respondents are reporting increased activity while 0 indicates that all respondents report decreased activity.
Three month Moving Averages are applied to each index to mitigate the effect of seasonal variations and published as the index figures
About the Sales Managers’ Indexes
The Sales Managers’ Indexes are a series of products developed by World Economics which counts panellists in key countries worldwide. Designed to raise the voice and profile of sales people throughout the world, the Sales Managers’ Indexes provide the earliest indication each and every month of the direction of economic activity, and the speed at which its markets are growing.
Sales Managers are unique as an occupational group in being right at the front line of economic activity. The Sales Manager is ideally placed to feel the first few whispers of caution in the market or to see the new green shoots of economic recovery.
The Sales Managers’ Index brings together the collective wisdom of Sales Managers and consequently produces the best and earliest source of understanding about what’s really happening in each economy. The Sales Managers’ Index has been developed by World Economics, a leading edge provider of original economic data.
About the World Economics
World Economics is an organisation dedicated to producing analysis, insight and data relating to questions of importance in understanding the world economy. Its parent company Information Sciences Ltd has a long history of the development of key business information today used throughout the world, including the origination and development of the Purchasing Managers Indexes in China, Japan, India, Europe, America and the UK (now owned by &P Global), and the development of WARC a global information provider for major corporations (now owned by Ascential).