Latest UpdatesResults of the “Survey on Impacts of the COVID-19 and Needs of Foreign-affiliated Companies“

May 25, 2020

JETRO conducted an out-of-cycle survey in order to understand the impacts of the COVID-19 on foreign-affiliated companies in Japan as well as their needs for supports. The survey was conducted from April 2nd to 10th and collected answers from 376 companies. The summary of survey results is as follows.

Summary of Survey Results :
93.4% answered negative impacts of COVID-19
62.5% of the companies answered the COVID-19 has had “Negative” impacts on their business while 30.9% answered “Slightly negative.” Combined, 93.4% answered the virus has had negative impacts on them. As for the nature of the impacts, the top answers were those coming from the decrease in demands, as 68.4% chose “decrease in sales/orders.”
Companies less enthusiastic about expanding business
For future development of business in Japan, the top answer was “Maintain the current business” (37.5%), followed by “Expanding as scheduled” and “Delaying the expansion” (22.6% for both answers). The impacts of the virus lowered the sentiments for expansion, which was 70% in the FY2019 survey.
Many companies in need to secure/increase clients/consumers
The largest number of companies, 51.3%, answered “Secure/increase clients/consumers” as a difficulty in managing business under the current circumstances, followed by securing cash flow, communication via digital tools and disruption of supply chains. These difficulties were raised in other surveys on domestic companies as well as policy proposals from domestic business organizations.

Inquiries for this survey

JETRO
Invest Japan Promotion Division, Invest Japan Department
Tel: 03-3582-5571
E-mail: jaa-research@jetro.go.jp

Inquiries and consultation for business operations in Japan

JETRO
Invest Japan Business Support Center
Tel: 03-3582-4684
E-mail: invest-japan@jetro.go.jp

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