Business growth expectations of the environmental horticulture sector: on the way to recovery after the financial crisis

摘要

Using data from the environmental horticulture sector collected from firms in Georgia, USA, this paper examines changes in the revenues and hiring of staff between 2011 and 2012 and expectations of growth expressed in the first part of 2013. Responsesfrom more than 230 firms permit the comparison of firms revenue change between the last two full calendar years. More firms reported growth in revenues than decline and a substantial number of firms reported hiring new employees. However, the strongestevidence of recovery in the sector was provided by the much stronger expectations of revenue growth. This is particularly important after several years of adjustment forced by the financial crisis of 2007-2008. The environmental horticulture sector feelsmuch more optimistic and the average expected growth was larger than the average expected decline in revenues. However, the industry structure has changed and the number of large firms has increased relative to smaller firms.