Most foreign firms in Taiwan expect modest growth in revenue and profits this year, while a majority plan to increase investment amid a rosy business outlook for the next five years, a survey by a trade group showed yesterday.
The survey, conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Taipei, indicated that about 70 percent of respondents anticipate substantial or modest growth in revenue and profits this year with 73.5 percent characterizing last year as very or relatively profitable.
“The majority of respondents reported 2010 to be an excellent year for business, with 2011 shaping up as good or possibly even better,” AmCham chairman Bill Wiseman told a media briefing.
Over half of the companies indicated plans to increase investment in Taiwan, with more than 80 percent holding positive views on the five-year outlook, Wiseman said. He declined to name companies or their investment levels, except to say they were in the high-tech and manufacturing industries.
No company reported suffering a very large loss, and the few that experienced a loss were mainly newer and developing companies, the survey found after polling 117 firms in November last year.
The respondents attributed the strong performance last year partly to Taiwan’s improvement in cross-strait transportation, trade ties and intellectual property rights protection as well as lower corporate income tax.
However, the respondents remained frustrated at human resource quality, inconsistent regulatory interpretations, government inefficiency and outdated laws.
“Many companies face problems with recruitment and retention within Taiwan, yet must still contend with constraints on their ability to freely hire qualified technical or managerial personnel from overseas and China,” Wiseman said.
For the most part, foreign business leaders praised Taiwanese employees as hardworking, trustworthy, well-educated, easy to train and productive, but they doubt whether they are of world-class standard and sufficiently well-rounded, Wiseman said. Also, Taiwanese employees fall short in terms of initiative and creativity, he said.
Almost 30 percent of the respondents said they would consider merger and acquisition activity in the coming 12 months.
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