The
Zurich 2014 SME Survey shows optimism for investment abroad, but where that growth will happen varies widely across countries and regions.
As in 2013, small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in most countries surveyed identified new customer segments and cost/expense reduction as the biggest opportunities at the present time. Zurich’s recent SME survey presented a mixed picture, however, with neither of these opportunities ranking in the top in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan, where diversification of product range or services is seen as the main opportunity.
“The diversity of opportunities identified by small and medium sized companies around the world highlights just how much the strategic drivers for these companies may differ,” says Mike Kerner, Zurich’s CEO General Insurance. “Identifying these differences is key to developing a holistic understanding of the challenges these companies face and delivering products and solutions to help them achieve their business objectives.”
Many businesses also see expansion into foreign markets as another opportunity, particularly in the Hong Kong (20 per cent), Morocco (26 per cent), Taiwan (23 per cent) and Turkey (27 per cent). However, even in these countries foreign expansion is not as attractive as it was in 2013. SMEs in Europe (12 per cent) and Latin America (9 per cent) had little appetite for discovering new markets outside of their home countries.
Attractive credit terms and acquisition of competitors were seen as offering big opportunities in Brazil and Italy but barely registered in Asia Pacific. Moreover, “no opportunities are foreseen for my business at present” was one of the top three mentions in Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Malaysia, Taiwan, UAE and the U.K.
Meanwhile, regulatory/legislation change was considered to be one of the top opportunities in Austria, Germany and Italy , but one of the least mentioned in Ireland, Mexico, South Africa, Switzerland and UAE.
In September, Zurich published survey data showing that SMEs were generally more optimistic, with one in five around the world increasing wages and every sixth adding staff in the previous 12 months. That study revealed a strong emphasis on increasing market share and diversifying products and service offerings, while fewer than 5 per cent of companies had considered closing down and only about 6 per cent cutting back their activities.
