New York: Half of the multinational corporations have laid-off staff and 46 per cent outsourced non-core functions to meet the current slowdown which are not short-term measures but long-term arrangements, a study has said.

"Companies are not taking knee-jerk actions to respond to current economic pressures. They are making strategic decisions, keeping their Research & Development programmes intact, for example, while making long-term adjustments to the sizes of their work forces and outsourcing non-core functions," it said quoting Global CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers Samuel A DiPiazza, Jr.

The fifth annual Global CEO survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which interviewed 1,161 CEOs from Europe, Asia and the US that employ more than 5,000 people globally, was released on January 31 at the World Economic Forum annual meeting.

The executives, however, believe that abundant opportunities remain over the long term despite the slowdown and uncertainties regarding the timing and strength of economic recovery.

On the threat of exclusion of developing countries in the process of globalisation and increase in the gap between rich and poor nations, 47 per cent did not think it would have negative effects, but 33 per cent agreed that such effects were likely.

The survey found that 44 per cent of the CEOs believe that the anti-globalisation protest movement does not pose a genuine threat to business in the 21st century, but one-third of CEOs supported the argument.

PTI