The theme of the Price Waterhouse Cooper's survey, "how to succeed in a connected world", explores the way CEOs seek to balance the risks and opportunities of competing and collaborating in the face of enormous uncertainty and change. The findings indicate that establishing business networks is now a primary response to today's environment - and that CEOs believe the benefits of doing this clearly outweigh the costs.

The nation's 140,000-mile network of rails devoted to carrying everything from cars to grain by freight is already groaning under the strain of congestion, with trains forced to stand aside for hours because of one-track rail lines. And it's probably going to get worse over the next two decades.

In a survey, employers were provided with a list of skills to rank order; this year, problem-solving skills, technical skills, and strategic planning skills were added to the list. Of the three, problem-solving skills received the highest rating while strategic planning skills was deemed least important.