According to the survey, completed in May, 50 percent of the 600 polled businesses with fewer than 300 workers said they will continue production on the current scale. Only one percent of businesses fear they may have to shut down and nine percent say they might scale down production. 37% of enterprises say they are planning to expand production and business.

SMEs also mentioned measures they will undertake to improve their business situations. The order is as follows: 1/ better supporting clients 2/ strengthening relations with customers and suppliers 3/ cutting down expenses 4/ strengthening marketing 5/ making investment in labour force, attracting more talents 6/ applying new management tools 7/ diversifying products 8/ renovating business strategies.

The noteworthy thing is that most of the measures are based on self-reliance. The measures suggested by VCCI like upgrading equipment and production methods to heighten productivity, or cooperating with the government and other enterprises to improve the quality of the business environment were not selected by many enterprises as measures to overcome difficulties.

VCCI’s experts comment that this shows the short-term vision of businesses and is a worrying thing. Cooperation with other businesses is not only necessary to overcome current difficulties but also to help businesses improve competitiveness when the economy recovers.

The survey also showed that enterprises now identify new difficulties: market demand remains low, while transport costs, input material prices and labour costs have increased. Especially, SMEs have worries about the volatility of the market.

VCCI’s experts say that this is the first time difficulties in bank loan access has been at the bottom of the list of difficulties.