 |
| The headquarters of EY Korea in Yeouido, Seoul / Courtesy of EY Korea |
By Anna J. Park
Local business leaders remain spirited as they plan to expand into new business areas in preparation for the future that will come after the current recession era, despite their overwhelming negative outlooks on the economic prospect for this year.
According to a survey by EY Korea conducted on 407 high-ranking business leaders of local companies, six out of 10 respondents said they will either focus on exploring new business opportunities or strengthening current business portfolios during the next two years to achieve a higher level of corporate innovation.
Specifically, they said they will make investments into state-of-the-art technologies, including AI and data-driven digitalization, to prepare their businesses for the new future.
These generally proactive attitudes shown by business leaders are in contrast to their dismal outlook for this year's economic forecasts. In the same survey, the respondents were asked about this year's economic prospects. A whopping 85 percent of them viewed the forecasts negatively.
Of the respondents, 49 percent also turned out to hold a negative outlook on their own businesses during this year. In particular, business leaders of the chemistry, real estate and construction sectors show the most pessimistic view on the economy for this year, citing that the biggest risks for their corporate growth lie in global inflation as well as raw material price hikes.
Despite such dismal yet realistic observations, the surveyed business leaders showed strong determination to take preemptive measures in securing competitiveness. Also the smaller their companies, the respondents said they plan to focus on strengthening current business models, while the leaders of larger companies tend to focus more on investing for future competitiveness.
As to areas of intensive investment, the largest portion of the respondents chose data and data analysis, followed by AI, cloud technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics and cybersecurity.
Regarding questions about ways to reduce market risks during the next six months, nearly 50 of the respondents said they will focus on reducing costs. 58 percent of the surveyed leaders also said they plan to reduce the size of new hires for this year, while 32 percent said they plan to carry out restructuring.
![[INTERVIEW] 'One Day Off' star Lee Na-young, director on creating subtle, feel-good series](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/796618f56a44402eabe81fe4530ab988.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Lee Jun-hyuk unrecognizable in 'The Roundup: No Way Out'](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/77a9da6df7da4284adbee249a87307c1.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
