Most Taiwanese entrepreneurs are upbeat about wealth growth, backed by their confidence in business opportunities, investment portfolios and personal capabilities, HSBC Taiwan said in a report released yesterday.
Ninety percent of local entrepreneurs expressed positive views, while 85 percent saw global networking as a key to business success, the banking group’s survey showed.
The survey covered 1,798 business owners across 10 global markets, including more than 140 entrepreneurs from Taiwan.
Photo: Reuters
The annual survey aims to shed light on what drives the world’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, and how they are thinking about the future of their businesses and personal wealth.
Taiwan’s entrepreneurs exhibited high mobility in yesterday’s report, with 68 percent residing in multiple locations — higher than the global average of 53 percent, it said, adding that Asia was their primary business market.
Seventeen percent voiced keen interest in expanding their business in Singapore, followed by Hong Kong and Japan at 13 percent each, it said.
Climate change was atop the list of concerns among Taiwanese entrepreneurs at 25 percent, followed by inflation at 22 percent and geopolitical tensions at 21 percent, it said.
Regarding wealth allocation, 69 percent of Taiwanese entrepreneurs mainly invested in stocks, bonds and real estate, while 51 percent preferred savings and 49 percent targeted home purchases, it said.
The report also sought to understand business succession planning worldwide.
Yesterday’s report showed that 65 percent of entrepreneurs in Taiwan had not drawn up a succession plan, with first-generation entrepreneurs being the least prepared at 78 percent.
The ratio was much higher than 59 percent in the US and 58 percent in the UK, it said.
Concerns over maintaining business continuity, finding a suitable successor and tax planning pose top challenges to succession planning, Taiwanese entrepreneurs said.
Eighty-one percent of family business successors indicated they have full trust from their family in their ability to take over and that 70 percent have family support, lower than the global average of 79 percent, the report said.
Only 65 percent of Taiwanese entrepreneurs deemed maintaining a family business as a source of pride, much lower than the global average of 80 percent, it said, adding that 30 percent of Taiwanese entrepreneurs cited upholding their family legacy as the driving force for wealth growth, higher than the global average of 21 percent.
Nearly 70 percent described having a business mentor as crucial, while 85 percent believed that global networks are essential for business success, it said.
Forty-four percent felt lonely and 36 percent found it difficult to seek advice from older family members, the report added.
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