The year 2002 saw the economy in turmoil, investors in retreat and management under attack. No wonder corporate executives were grasping for all the help they could find. In a sign of the times, Bain & Company's 2003 Management Tools Survey of senior executives found sharp increases in tool use the prior year by companies around the world. Explained one respondent, "In hard times you have to drive as much efficiency as possible out of every tool at your disposal."

For nine years, Bain has tracked the adoption and usefulness of management tools. The 2003 survey gathered data on tool use and satisfaction in 2002 from 708 companies on five continents—North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
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