Many Small Firms Want to Join Exodus
Many Small Firms Want to Join Exodus
Four out of 10 domestic small- and medium-sized companies have moved their production facilities overseas or are willing to do so, according to a survey that raised fresh fears of hollowing out of the nation`s manufacturing base.
As reasons for leaving the nation, those companies cited high labor costs, industrial strife, uncertainty in government policies and the need to secure overseas markets.
The Small and Medium Business Administration yesterday unveiled its survey of 375 manufacturing companies nationwide.
About 7 percent of those polled said they have already moved their production base to foreign countries while about 38 percent plan to relocate overseas.
The most favored destination was China. About 80 percent of the companies looking to move went there, or want to do so, in search of cheap labor and access to its vastly growing market.
Most of the companies are willing to relocate only production facilities but 14.8 percent plan to move core operations including research facilities, the survey found.
A majority of them cited the confrontational labor-management relations and inflexible labor market as the most serious problems here.
They also called on the government to promote high-value-added industries, resolve high labor costs and ease regulations on businesses.
Meanwhile, about 30 percent of the firms are willing to give up manufacturing altogether with 39 percent of those respondents wanting to switch to the service sector.