Budgets/Spending/Market Size

WASHINGTON — The vitality of consumer packaged goods companies is healthy again, according to a new report issued by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers on Wednesday.

Boston -- A survey released Tuesday by the Boston Consulting Group found that a growing number of consumers around the world are growing more anxious about the future, and are planning to reduce or maintain -- but not increase -- their spending.

The most recent Leading National Advertisers annual report from Advertising Age shows Target posted the biggest increased in ad spending in 2010 among conventional retailers. The total amount the company spent increased 12% to $1.508 billion compared with $1.246 billion the prior year. That put the company 18th on the Ad Age list of the nation’s 100 largest advertisers. Only two retailers spent more than Target.

New York City -- Mobile commerce is expected to reach $31 billion by the end of 2016, according to a new report from Forrester Research.

The report, “Mobile Commerce Forecast: 2011 to 2016,” predicts an annual compound growth rate of 39% for mobile commerce over the next five years.

The report predicts mobile commerce will reach $6 billion by the end of this year, $10 billion next year and $31 billion by 2016.

Repeated assurances by Walmart’s most senior executives that their top priority is growing U.S. same-store sales may be reassuring news to investors, but the company’s ability to do so by the end of the year now is a firmly established expectation. This is especially true, given the recent performance of once of the company top grocery competitors.

HERSHEY, Pa. — Just one month after filling in as the interim leader of chocolate giant Hershey, John Bilbrey officially took the reigns as president and CEO of the company.

Bilbrey also was elected to Hershey's board of directors, Hershey said Wednesday. Bilbrey, who served as the company's EVP and COO until May, replaced David West, who exited left his post after 10 years to become the chief executive at Del Monte Foods.

Walmart is moving forward with what could be characterized as a roll out of its Neighborhood Market format nearly 13 years after the first unit opened in the fall of 1998. Just don’t call it a Neighborhood Market.

Alexandria, Va. -- A poll from the Society of Human Resource Management, released Thursday, showed that the number of U.S. organizations with a formal succession plan in place decreased during the past five years from 29% in 2006 to 23% in 2011.

While less than a quarter of businesses have a formal plan in place, the numbers improve when informal plans are considered. More than one-third, or 38%, of human resources professionals said their organization currently has an informal succession plan or process in place (up from 29% in 2006).

Washington, D.C. -- Eighty percent of building owners expect double-digit energy-price increases during the next year, causing owners to set an average energy reduction target of 12%, according to Johnson Controls’ fifth annual global Energy Efficiency Indicator survey.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Pier 1 Imports reported Thursday that its fiscal first-quarter profit nearly doubled, rising to $14.1 million, compared with $7.7 million in the prior year period.

Revenue increased 9% to $334.6 million from $306.3 million. Same-store sales rose 10.2%.