In a survey conducted in March 2009, Arthur D. Little spoke to senior executives around the globe about the economic downturn. The survey focuses on what the crisis means to business and how executives can prepare for the return of better times. The results are not all gloom and doom. Business is generally expected to return to pre-crisis levels by 2011 at the latest and, while there is a general feeling that the crisis has brought a fundamental questioning of the way businesses are run, companies are taking measures beyond cost-cutting to prepare for life after the downturn. As well as getting through the hard times, executives feel an urgent need to reposition their companies for the new economic world that is to come.