September 2020
Survey of Corporate Attitudes Toward COVID-19 (September 2020)
56.0% of companies expect to have decreased sales and profits for business performance in 2020.
— “Introducing online meetings” ranked top for working style that started with COVID-19 —
Introduction
Constraints on economic activities gradually alleviated after the state of emergency was lifted, and the Japanese society and economy have started to move again. However, the number of newly infected people in Japan continues to be uncertain situation, and there is no change in the fact that the COVID-19 trend influences both the lives of the people and corporate activity. In addition, while a response to a new lifestyle is required, companies are required to have a work style that differs from that which is conventional and develop and sell products and services that meet the needs of the times.
Teikoku Databank has conducted a survey of corporate attitudes toward COVID-19 This survey was conducted in conjunction with the September 2020 TDB Trends Research.
*Survey period: September 15 to 30, 2020; Companies Surveyed: 23,695; Valid Responses: 11,689 (Response Rate: 49.3%). The survey for COVID-19 has been conducted since February 2020, and this is the 8th such survey.
*Details of this survey can be found on the dedicated Economic Trend Survey website (http://www.tdb-di.com).
Primary points of survey results(summary)
- 1 Companies that expect a “negative impact” on their business performance due to COVID-19 stood at 80.6%, which was a decrease for the fifth month in a row. On the other hand, companies with a “positive impact” stood at 3.6%. With respect to those with a “negative impact” or “positive impact” by business category, “Japanese inns and hotels” ranked top (at 96.8%) for the sixth month in a row, and “merchandise retail” ranked top (at 35.6%) for the seventh month in a row, respectively.
- 2 Companies that expect increased sales and profits for business performance forecast in 2020 stood at 10.5%, a decrease of 3.0 points from the survey in March 2020 (13.5%). On the other hand, 56.0% of companies expect to have decreased sales and profits, an increase of 11.6 points from the said survey (44.4%).
- 3 With respect to the efforts towards work style reform, which started when the COVID-19 infection spread, “introducing online meetings” ranked top (at 39.0%), followed by “introducing working from home” (33.9%), and “introduction of staggered working hours and a flex-time system” (25.7%).
- 4 With respect to the problem in changing the work style, “business assignment is mainly not suitable for remote work” ranked top at 74.5%. In particular, “manufacturing,” “retail,” “agriculture, forestry and fisheries,” and “construction,” which have essential workers, etc., show over 80%.
- 5 With respect to the development and sales of products and services corresponding to the new llifestyle, “products and services that contribute to cough etiquette” ranked top at 18.7%. For items to be considered in the future, “expansion of sales channels using the internet” ranked top at 11.5%.