Euro Execs Say Dealing with French Tr¿s Impossible

, March 17, 1999

ATLANTA, March 17, 1999 ¿ Almost a third (29%) of Europe's top executives say the French are the most difficult to conduct business with while 33 percent find the Germans the easiest, according to those surveyed in the eighth annual UPS Europe Business Monitor. The survey of more than 1,500 top European business leaders can now be found on the Web at www.ebm.ups.com.

The Monitor covers a variety of topics ranging from business predictions to personal preferences. For example, lunch is the most popular time to conduct business according to the European executives surveyed. The Italians, being the notable exception, would rather conduct business over breakfast or dinner (30% each). The earnest Germans (36%) prefer their business dealings at a conference room or airport.

The survey includes workplace issues such as flextime, telecommuting and on-site childcare. More than half of the executives surveyed (61%) predict the prevalence of flextime in their companies during the next five years. British executives believe practices such as telecommuting (53%), mobile working locations (44%) and casual dress days (60%) will be common in the next five years. In comparison, nearly four in ten (39%) French business leaders anticipate a four-day workweek, while the same number of Dutch predict more company childcare facilities for employees.

Other survey highlights include:

• Whether the euro will challenge the supremacy of the U.S. dollar
• Gloomy economic forecasts for business in Western Europe
• Executive predictions of unemployment and inflation
• Use of technology including favored communication tools, e-commerce and fears about the Y2K bug

UPS commissioned Harris Research to conduct the survey, which is available in six languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Dutch.

Notes to Editors

• UPS Europe Business Monitor graphs/charts - and interviews with third-party spokespeople - are available by calling Tara Monahan or Terri Gurrieri, Edelman P.R. Worldwide at (212) 704-8155/4555.
• UPS EBM results are now available online at a specially created site, www.ebm.ups.com.
• The UPS Europe Business Monitor surveyed more than 1,500 business leaders from Europe's top 15,000 companies between November 5 and December 9, 1998. Respondents are at director level or above. The Harris International Telephone Research Centre, London, conducted interviewing in the respondents' native tongue.
• Interviews were conducted in the following countries: Belgium (113), France (261), Germany (267), Italy (254), The Netherlands (104), Spain (250) and the U.K. (259). The average turnover of businesses interviewed is US$1.57 billion; average employee size is 3,750.
• The UPS Europe Business Monitor was launched by UPS in 1992 to provide a fresh view of business opinion throughout Europe. As the largest express carrier and package delivery company in the world, delivering more than 12 million packages everyday, UPS is a key facilitator of global trade. The goal of the survey is to provide UPS and its customers insight into the latest conditions, trends and obstacles predicted to influence businesses in Europe as they interact in the global marketplace.
• The results of the first wave of the Monitor were published in spring 1992, the second in autumn 1992, and then annually each autumn ¿ 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997. Back data is available on request.
• UPS, the world's largest express carrier and package delivery company and sponsor of the 2000 Summer Olympic games in Australia, employs 326,800 people worldwide and provides services to more than 200 countries and territories. UPS had revenues for 1998 of US$24.8 billion on volume of 3.14 billion packages.