Analyses & Etudes • Secteurs & marchés

European Business Confidence Survey 2023-2024

Le 07/03/2024

Discover the results of FKCCI and other European chambers of commerce in Korea's Business Confidence Survey 2023-2024.

The French-Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea, and 10 other national chambers and business councils from European countries, today released the results of the annual “Business Confidence Survey 2023/24”. The survey, conducted in January 2024 over three weeks, saw participation from 172 CEOs of European companies.

According to the survey, the majority of respondents continue to consider the Korean market to be important. More than half of the respondents, specifically 53%, indicated that Korea is increasing in importance in their company's overall global strategy. However, this response rate has gradually decreased compared to 63% in 2021 and 59% in 2022.

Regarding last year's business performance, 58% of respondents indicated that they were either 'very content' or 'content' with their performance in Korea. Additionally, 51% reported that their revenue increased by more than 5% compared to the previous year. However, when asked about the evolution of market share, only 38% responded that they had experienced growth, representing a decrease of 15% compared to 2022. The majority of respondents (51%) stated that they maintained a growth rate similar to that of the previous year.

When it comes to the business outlook for the companies in their respective sectors in Korea over the next two years, the data presents a mixed picture: 47% responded neutrally, while 27% answered positively, and 26% expressed a negative outlook. In the survey results from 2022, the respective figures were 24% and 28%.

Besides the overall rather positive business development in the past year and the mixed expectations, the responses of the European companies also show areas of concerns and numerous fields requiring improvements.

Moreover, 51% of the surveyed companies answered that they have a plan to increase investment and operational expenses. This data shows a slight decrease compared to 60% in 2021 and 55% in 2022. However, more than half of the responding companies, 54%, plan to expand their employee recruitment.

Meanwhile, when asked about development in the business environment in Korea over the past two years, 49% of responding companies answered that it had become 'more difficult,' which is a 4% decrease compared to 2022 (53%). Additionally, 10% of the responding companies stated that reforms implemented in 2023 had helped their business, while 29% said it had not helped. Positive expectations for future regulatory reforms from the government have generally decreased. The expectation that the government will implement significant reforms decreased from 19% in 2022 to 9% in 2023, while conversely, negative opinions increased from 28% in 2022 to 44% in 2023.

The economic growth and the capacity for innovation are perceived as positive market parameters with satisfaction scores higher than the percentage of non-satisfaction. In contrast, the scores showing the dissatisfaction with the legislative environment, the discretionary enforcement of regulations as well as the transparency of policy-making and implementation remain high.

Since 2014, the Business Confidence Survey has been conducted to take an annual snapshot of European companies’ perceptions towards the business environment in Korea. The company profile included various industries, diversely ranging from services to manufacturing to provide an unbiased viewpoint. About 75% of the participants are European companies that have been active in Korea for more than a decade.

The results of the Business Confidence Survey 2023-2024 can be downloaded here:

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