Over 76 percent of Taiwanese CEOs are optimistic that the nation's economy will gradually recover later this year while 94 percent of them believe that last year's economic downturn has bottomed out, a local magazine's survey found yesterday.
"The conclusion, which can be drawn [from the survey], is that the worst year in history is over," said Mary Yang (楊瑪利), deputy managing editor of CommonWealth magazine (天下雜誌).
The survey, conducted by CommonWealth in March, was sent out to 3,550 corporate leaders, of which 817 (23 percent) responded.
The survey further found that rising economic confidence has driven over 70 percent of the polled to consider putting down more local investment.
Over 56 percent of the polled said that they will increase local investment by 10 to 30 percent this year while 10 percent of them will invest by 30 to 50 percent and over 5 percent of them plan to invest by over 50 percent.
Meanwhile, the survey also found Taiwanese enterprises continue to enviously eye China's growing markets and economic potential.
The percentage of enterprises, which have made investment in China, increased from 31 percent in 1999 to 36 percent last year and 46 percent this year, according to the survey. On the other hand, the percentage of enterprises, which never plan to move to China, dropped from 52 percent in 1999 to 21 percent last year and 17.5 percent this year.
Major reasons for an increasing number of enterprises moving to China are the opening up of China's post-WTO market and China's booming consumer power.
The survey said that 75.6 percent of CEOs said its massive market is why China is so attractive while cheap labor and low costs were less of a concern. In addition, the percentage of Taiwanese enterprises, which have turned a profit in China, increased from 35 percent in 1999 to 44.7 percent this year.
* More than 76 percent of Taiwanese CEOs are optimistic that the nation's economy will gradually recover later this year.
* Ninety four percent believe that last year's economic downturn has bottomed out.
* Over 56 percent of the polled said that they will increase local investment by 10 to 30 percent this year.
"China could be an economic blessing for Taiwan -- whose geographic location spells its economic importance -- if China's market is integrated into Taiwan's global business expansion," said Vice Legislative Speaker Chiang Ping-kun (
Lee Kun-yao (
"Taiwan should usher in an era of managed in or by Taiwan (MIT) from its previous golden age of MIT (made in Taiwan)," Lee said at the same discussion. Lee said that Taiwan enjoys the upper hand in its capabilities of absorbing capital world-wide and its marketing skills.
Praising Taiwan's economic competitiveness, Rick Tsai (蔡力行), president of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), said that the nation's high-tech development is still ahead of other countries in the world. However, the next challenge facing Taiwan's enterprises will be what value could be added to their core competency and how the differentiation can be pursued to reinforce each enterprise's individual strength, he added.
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