Three months after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office, a majority of executives from the nation’s top 500 corporations assigned his administration a neutral score, with a sizable number bearish about their business prospects, a survey released yesterday showed.
The survey, conducted by China Credit Information Services Ltd (CCIS, 中華徵信), showed that only 15 percent of corporate managers were satisfied with Ma’s performance, while 30 percent said they found the new government disappointing.
As many as 50 percent of respondents expressed a neutral sentiment, with the remaining 5 percent refusing to answer, said the survey, which interviewed 354 business executives by telephone between Aug. 1 and Aug. 10.
CCIS general manager David Chang (張大為) said the survey showed there was ample room for improvement in fiscal, personnel and marketing management within the administration.
Pointing to the NT$130 billion (US$4.16 billion) public works program, Chang said that many economists questioned its necessity and effectiveness in spurring domestic demand. Moreover, Chang said the Cabinet seemed to be failing in explaining its policies, adding that Cabinet spokeswoman Vanessa Shih (史亞平) shared the blame in this regard.
On personnel management, Chang said the Ma administration should pay more attention to criticism leveled at policymakers involved in cross-strait matters, as they did not seem to see eye to eye with the president on easing trade regulations.
CCIS editor-in-chief Liu Jen (劉任) said that while welcoming measures to attract domestic and foreign capital, the top 500 corporations cared more about deregulation that would help them link up to the world.
Liu said that the companies surveyed posted NT$23.56 trillion in profits last year and had more than 1.28 million employees.
The survey said only 38.7 percent of respondents were optimistic about profit growth in the coming two years. The number dropped from 48.5 percent in January and 74.2 percent from last year, the survey showed.
Nickolas Hsu (�?, CCIS business credit director, attributed the pessimism to the global slowdown and surging oil prices, which have hurt profits. He said the respondents did not expect to see any impact from the deregulation this year, but believed their companies would put up a better showing year-on-year during the second half.
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