The survey covers 16 countries across Europe, the US and Asia (including China). It offers insight into senior business people in companies with 50 employees or more. 

The first report has revealed that this group has significant differences in attitude to the general population: while they reportedly believe that the world is changing too fast ( 73% say this), they also understand that being able to adapt to new challenges and environments is critical to the success of their business. Seventy four per cent say they change plans to take account of new conditions. 

Looking at the topic of Brexit, 35% think it will weaken the EU, but just 8% believe it will lead to the disintegration of the EU. However, global business influencers (particularly in Europe), expect Brexit to affect their business ( 73% of European respondents agree).

The study also found that global business influencers in Europe are avid and heavy consumers of all media. In the past 30 days, they read or accessed on average 14 different media brands, and are very engaged with the media they consume, spending an average of 33 minutes with a media brand when consuming content.

“There continues to be a need from advertisers, agencies and media owners to be able to understand, reach and communicate with senior business executives," said James Torr, senior director at Ipsos Connect.

"Since Ipsos has started research on this specific population, it has undergone continuous change and adapted to an ever new political, economic and technological environment. Our surveys also have adapted. We have gone from regional surveys to global surveys; printed surveys to digital surveys; from platforms to brands. 

"The Global Business Influencer survey fits perfectly into the media and advertising world we now exist in and provides a rich insight into the lives of this group who wield so much influence and power in global business.”