It’s that time of the quarter again, when we publish our regular printing industry Business Conditions update. Now out is our October 2010 Business Conditions Report, and this quarter the focus (or one of the foci) is on buying stuff. That is, our September 2010 Economics and Research Center survey concentrated heavily on planned investments for the remainder of 2010 and 2011, and we asked printing companies if they planned to make any capital investments (almost half said they did), what they planned to invest in (not a lot of traditional printing equipment), and, perhaps most crucially, how committed they were to those investment plans (many “wish lists,” but a not inconsiderable amount of “budgeted” investments).

Meanwhile, on the people front, our survey found that there is not going to be a lot of hiring going on—the majority of printing companies either have no plans to hire or, if they do, it will only be to replace exiting workers. A mere 13% say they will need new employees because they are expanding their businesses.

As always in these reports, the “Geek Squad” is there to look ahead at emerging (and emerged) technologies, to give graphic communications companies a heads-up as to what will soon be competing with print for content creators to disseminate their messages. And bullish forecasts? We aggregate an almost Pamplona-esque set of predictions about online ad spending, mobile media, and blogging.

We also update our economic indicators, the Recovery Watch, and “Dark Clouds and Silver Linings.”

Dr. Joe and I have been making the rounds, talking to various printing groups often about the suggestions and strategies in Disrupting the Future, and it’s heartening to see that there are an increasing number of folks “out there” who are starting to understand the way that the landscape is changing, and that it’s not just the economy. The October 2010 Business Conditions Report is informed by a lot of what we have seen, as well as what we would like to see, which can often be two different things!