KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s business outlook is looking positive in the near future with 80% of the businesses expecting growth in the next one to two years, according to the latest survey by HSBC.
HSBC Malaysia Sdn Bhd in a statement said the survey titled ‘Navigator: Made for the Future’ revealed that 16 per cent of exporters expect their business to grow over five per cent during the period and a further half (51%) expecting a 3% to 5% increase.
It said local companies expected that growth would be driven by an increasing or stable customer base (34%) and the availability of quality suppliers and raw materials (25%).
Of these, increasing sustainability demands (30%) is considerably above the global average (22%).
“There is a clear balance in favour of those seeing more opportunities than threats (50% versus 16%), and one-third seeing them as being equally balanced (34%).
“However, new competitors and competitors’ performance (32%) is seen as the main threat for businesses. The proportion of businesses who feel this way in Malaysia is one of the highest across all markets, with the global average being 25%,” it said.
The survey said although almost all (98%) of Malaysian businesses feel that innovation is important, they also see three key barriers which are similar to those seen globally, namely cost (53%), skill shortage (34%) and uncertain return on investment (32%).
HSBC Malaysia chief executive officer Stuart Milne said by improving productivity and integrating technologies into their business models, companies in Malaysia can improve the quality of their goods and services and better meet the needs and expectations of their evolving customer base.
“Businesses in Malaysia are putting their people at the heart of what they do, with 24% of Malaysian companies sharing that they will be investing in the skills of their workforce to ‘future proof’ for success.
“Compared to other markets in Asean, Malaysia scores the highest (26%) when it comes to bringing skills and experience into the business,” said Milne.
The survey report surveyed over 2,500 businesses with turnover of US$5 million or above from 14 key markets globally, including 200 from Malaysia.
