Fast-Rising Vendors See Silver (Lining)

If misery truly loves company, it's a happier world today than a year ago. Tech buyers can find some comfort in a survey that shows starkly changed priorities for the CEOs of fast-growing vendors. A year ago, most respondents to Deloitte & Touche's Fast Track 500 survey said their No. 1 priority was managing expectations; No. 3 was profitability. Those rankings are reversed in 2002.

Still, the 200 CEOs who responded in this year's survey are a sunny-side-up lot. Fully 62% say the slowdown that has ravaged their industry is a healthy shakeout of less-viable companies. While painful in the short term, they say, this will lead to a more-robust industry in the next 18 months. The same number of respondents say they're "extremely" or "very" confident that their companies will maintain high growth levels.

CEOs said their companies' No. 1 challenge is developing a strong marketing and sales strategy. Says Mark Evans, a managing director with Deloitte & Touche, "CEOs wanting to make money in a challenging environment are cutting administrative costs and investing in sales and marketing."