2024 - Oct 18, 2024

Swiss Business in China Survey: High confidence despite lower sales and profit expectations

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  • In the latest “Swiss Business in China” survey, the confidence level for the business operations
    in the next year reached 7 out of 10 – a little lower than the 7.2 during the hopeful re-opening
    after Covid in 2023, but higher than any other year since 2015.
  • Yet, Swiss businesses have lower expectations than in the past in terms of their sales and
    profit growth. 46% of respondents expect higher sales and 43% expect higher profits in 2024
    year-on-year. In 2023, post-reopening, these values were at 51% and 62%, respectively.
  • Nearly half of respondents consider China a top 3 investment destination. 35% plan to increase
    their investments, while 6% plan to decrease them. It is the lowest investment intention recorded
    by the survey, still China remains a priority investment destination, while investments are
    more cautious, also in consideration that profit margins might be harder to achieve.
  • Differences in perception between HQs and local subsidiaries: Managers based in China are far
    more confident about their company’s Chinese operations than their counterparts in
    Switzerland.
  • The survey was carried out and published in collaboration with the University of St-Gallen and its
    China Competence Center (CCC-FIM) and includes expert articles on the status of China’s
    economy as well as what to expect for international businesses. Download the full survey here.

Shanghai, Geneva (October 18, 2024) – In the recent “Swiss Business in China” survey, decision makers of 101 Swiss companies largely indicated that they remain confident about their China operations. The survey features a metric to compare the confidence level of Swiss enterprises over the years. In the recent survey, the confidence level of respondents reaches 7 on a scale from 0 (absolutely not confident) to 10 (extremely confident) when asked about the next year. The confidence about the next five years is equally high (7.1). “This is a little less than during the re-opening in 2023, when the confidence reached 7.2. But it is higher than in every other year since 2015”, reports Nicolas Musy, Delegate of the Board of the Swiss Centers Group, a non-profit organization that lowers the Asian market entry hurdles for Swiss enterprises. Musy: “The survey results underline that Swiss companies managed to weather the extraordinary challenges of the last four years pretty well. And though profitability did not follow turnover, growth on average has been good for Swiss businesses in China.”

The Swiss Business in China survey is published by the University of St. Gallen (FIM-HSG), the Swiss Centers Group, and China Integrated in partnership with the Embassy of Switzerland in China, SwissCham China, Swissnex, Economiesuisse, Switzerland Global Enterprise and the Swiss Chinese Chamber of Commerce. The comprehensive survey includes responses from 101 Swiss companies, both SMEs and large enterprises, and is believed to be representative of the roughly 600 Swiss companies in China.