Leadership Pulse Shows Sales, Net Profit and Employment to Improve

July results For University of Michigan Business School/eePulse research study indicate business leaders plan to grow sales, net profit and employment over the next month.

ANN ARBOR, MI (PRWEB) August 6, 2003 - Respondents to the July 2003 Leadership Pulse, a research project conducted by the University of Michigan Business School and eePulse, Inc., indicate that sales, net profit and number of customers are expected to increase over the next month. Consisting of five, short questions, the Web-based Pulse Survey is sent out to thousands of worldwide executives on a monthly basis to measure the effects of key resources and confidence levels on overall business growth and performance.
    
In the July Leadership Pulse, participants were asked the Resource Movement Scale questions, or how they would rate the level of movement (from reduction to growth) over the next month for gross sales, number of employees, number of customers, net profits, and products and/or services. The largest improvement over Junes survey data is estimated to be in sales, with a five point gain (gain and loss numbers are calculated using the change in percentage of people who indicated growth on the horizon in the next month). Employment numbers look more favorable with the number of firms planning to reduce staff decreasing by three points since June.

Respondents were also asked what the most important action is that a leader can take to improve growth potential. The most frequent responses centered around sales and customer service leading to sales (42%).

Other comments related to the following:
-People - 30%
-Financial/Internal - 26%
-Culture - 21%
-Product/Technology - 20%
-Strategy - 16%
-Leadership/Management - 11%
-Economy/Economic Conditions - 5%

Next month, respondents will be asked to rate their confidence in leadership, their companys vision, ability to change, economic conditions, and their people, states Theresa Welbourne, Ph.D., Samuel Zell & Robert Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Michigan Business School Adjunct Associate Professor and eePulse, Inc. CEO. During the months when this Confidence Scale is not asked, the research team provides drill-down questions that are designed to obtain more information about the prior months findings. In addition to the metrics, open-ended comment data are collected and analyzed every month.

Individual leaders who wish to be included in the Leadership Pulse study can contact Dr. Welbourne or the research team at eePulse at 734.996.2321. A website is available for those organizations that would like to have up to 50 senior leaders participate in the study. If a company participates with multiple executives, it will receive a personalized company report each month and be able to compare their company results to those of the overall sample and various public sub-samples. If you want expanded participation for your organization, please visit the following web site: www.umbs.leadership.eepulse.com.

About Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies

The Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies was formed in October 1999. The Institute actively engages the nations most successful entrepreneurs and offers an outstanding faculty composed of both academic researchers and practitioners in entrepreneurship. The Institutes mission is to focus the capabilities and resources of the University of Michigan Business School to provide education, experience and opportunities in entrepreneurship; serve as a catalyst for new venture development; and contribute important research in the field of entrepreneurship. Members of the Institutes Advisory Board include Samuel Zell, Chairman of Equity Group Investments; Michael Hallman, former COO of Microsoft Corporation; and Eugene Applebaum, Founder of Arbor Drugs.

About eePulse, Inc.
eePulse, Inc. transforms surveys into leadership tools. Using eePulses proprietary web-based enterprise-wide software suite called Measurecom(TM) (measurement and communication), organizations and leaders immediately improve their performance. Productivity enhancement comes from action taken in response to real-time stakeholder information. Using Pulse Survey and Pulse Reporting engines, data are provided as frequently as weekly so that immediate action can be taken to confront breaking news." Managers solve problems and pursue opportunities today, improving quality, enhancing customer service, realigning strategy, and improving organizational agility, learning, and performance at all levels. The complete Measurecom product suite includes Pulse surveys, Pulse Reports, Communicate-back tools, Issue tracking, Action planning, Learning modules, Proprietary metrics such as Energy Pulse, Valour Pulse, and Culture Pulse, and ROI reporting.

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