AmCham-ERIA Survey Report
The American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia (AmCham) and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) hosted an event to launch the results of the survey ‘The Impact of COVID-19 on Foreign Firms in ASEAN’.
Key findings;
- Almost all firms experienced a negative impact due to the pandemic, with impacts on output, revenue, and/or sales across all countries of operation. Overall, the Dairy and Meat sector was hit the hardest with 100% reporting some degree of negative impact (‘slightly’, ‘moderately’ or ‘significantly’ adverse). This is followed by Electronics and Healthcare. The Trade and Logistics sector is the least negatively impacted (50%) with 28% of firms experiencing some positive impact.
- 75% of firms experienced a significant reduction in output/revenue/sales. That reduction was due mostly to lack of demand (79%). 72% of firms experienced supply chain interruptions.
- Measures taken in response to this included the introduction of remote working, hiring freezes, and reductions in the number of employees.
- Up to 43% of firms already have or are considering reducing operations or production and up to 27% may reshore operations. Up to 48% may move operations from China to another country.
- Most companies anticipate that business activities will stabilize in the ‘new normal’ in Q2 2021 or later. 51% think it will be better in 2 years, 42% think it will be the same, 7 % think it will be worse.
- Certain innovations such as increased video conferencing and working from home are expected to become permanent.
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