An overwhelming 98 percent of 213 Amcham member companies polled
during its latest economic outlook survey gave either "very
satisfactory" or "somewhat satisfactory" ratings on the overall
business environment in Hong Kong, up two percentage points from
the previous year.
More than half of the respondents also forecast that the
business environment would continue to be "good" for their
companies for the next two years.
Commissioned by Amcham, the survey was conducted by ACNielsen in
October and November last year. Questionnaires were mailed to 757
company representatives and individual members. The response rate
was 28 percent with a margin of error +/- 3.4%.
Among the respondents, 55 percent of the companies are based in
the United States, 29 percent in Hong Kong and 3 percent in the
United Kingdom.
Half of the respondents said they would expand their businesses
in Hong Kong and hire more staff in the next three years.
Only 8 percent have plans to gradually downsize and 9 percent
may reduce staffing levels.
Asked about benefits of the Closer Economic Partnership
Arrangement (CEPA), half of the companies said their businesses had
not benefited because either they were not relevant or CEPA's terms
of reference did not apply to their industries.
Those who had, cited an improved level of market access to the
Chinese mainland, the ability to set up wholly owned foreign
enterprises, and a reduction in business entry costs.
Business outlook for the mainland also continued to be upbeat,
with 94 percent of respondents rating the outlook in 2007 as "good"
or "satisfactory".
A majority - 93 percent - of respondents whose companies have
operations on the mainland said they planned to make additional
investments over the next three years. Among those with no
operations in China, 45 percent said they planned to enter the
Chinese market during the same period.
(China Daily June 22, 2007)