Divided fortunes

Corporate end-user survey 2006

A rift has begun to appear in the corporate world, with some parties already predicting that 2006 will be looked back on as a year that divided companies into the haves and the have-nots. Many global businesses are facing a squeeze due to rising raw material prices on one side and weakening consumer demand - especially in the North American and European markets - on the other. But while the situation is causing a long and painful financial headache in much of the manufacturing world, the world's