EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Significance of the survey

• To assist the Government in gauging the economic situation facing the Chinese business community.
• To collect feedback and opinion on various measures undertaken by the Government to enable them to evaluate the effectiveness of those measures.
• This study would be helpful to the Government either in making adjustments to the existing policies or in the formulation of new policies.
• The result of the survey would also provide a basis for ACCCIM to submit relevant memoranda to the Government.

Profile of respondents

• The respondents were mainly from wholesale and retail (24.3%), manufacturing (19.5%), professional & business services (14.2%), construction (8.8%), tourism, shopping, hotels, restaurants, recreation & entertainment (5.3%), transportation, forwarding & warehousing (5.1%), finance & insurance (5.1%) as well as others (17.6%).
• Nearly 20% of the respondents were from Non-SME (according to annual turnover and full time employees).
• Some 81% of the respondents were domestic market oriented whereas the remaining 19% focused on “both domestic and export” markets (12.6%) or ‘export’ markets (6.4%).

Major survey questions and findings
The major survey questions are as follows :

1. Did the Malaysian economy deteriorating, remain unchanged or grow in the 1st half of 2012 ?

• Sales Performance Shows Slight Dip
• Drop in Production Volume
• Slight Drop in Inventory
• Collections of Payment Deteriorated
• Slight Decrease in New Orders from Overseas Markets
• Slight Decrease in New Local Orders
• Local Sales Prices Weakened Slightly
• Weakening Employment Market
• Wages Were Generally Stable
• Slip in Capacity Utilisation
• Drop in Investment in New Resources or Plant

The Malaysian economy was seen to have experienced little growth in the 1st half of 2012.

2. What were the major factors adversely affecting business performances in the 1st half of 2012 ?

• Increase in operating cost and price of raw materials
• Government policies
• Manpower shortage
• Domestic competition

3. Is the Chinese business community optimistic or pessimistic about the Malaysian economic outlook ?
Overall, the Chinese business community is less optimistic about the economic outlook for 2012 and 2013, but they are cautiously optimistic about the economic outlook of Malaysia for 2014.

4. Current issues facing the Chinese businessmen in relation to trade, investment and industrial development in Malaysia. 
(a) Implementation of Minimum Wage

• 55.9% of the respondents believed that the setting of minimum wages would bring about negative effects on their businesses.
• The government is advised to undertake further research and dialogues with the industry players, and finally implements different minimum wage structures according to the different sectors and regions in Malaysia, to take into account the differences that are prevalent in various businesses and the different standards of living in various parts of Malaysia. This is evident as 70% of respondents opined that they would be more inclined to support the minimum wage policy if the followings were implemented:
• Clarify the operational aspect of the implementation of minimum wages
• Have different wage structures of minimum wages for different sectors and different regions

(b) Concern with the Latest Developments Surrounding the European Financial Crisis
All businesses are concerned with the developments currently taking place in Europe, given the continuous stream of negative news from the region.

(c) Impact of the European Financial Crisis on your Firm / Business 
45% of the respondents said there was no impact as they were shielded somewhat by stronger domestic demand, on the back of higher fiscal spending through various handouts and the implementation of projects under the ETP, PPP and various economic corridors.

(d) Do you feel that the Government’s Efforts To-Date to Move the Malaysian Population out of the ‘Middle Income Trap’ has shown positive results ? 
Many SMEs / SMIs appear not to have benefitted from the various government initiatives. This has led to many respondents not believing that Malaysia is on its way to being successful to move the economy out of the middle income trap.

(e) Are you happy with the State of the Malaysian Economy To-Date, Leading up to the coming 13th General Elections for Malaysia ? 
A great majority (72.9%) of the respondents were not happy with the state of the Malaysian economy to-date, leading up to the coming 13th General Elections for Malaysia.

(f) Prices of Properties to Continue its Upward Trend 
Many respondents (64.2%) did not foresee that property prices would trend downwards in the near future.

(g) Has the Competition Act 2010 Affected you and your Business?
Majority of the respondents (59%) replied that thus far, the Act had no effect on their businesses perhaps in part owing to their sizes. The conditions as set out in the Act may not materially affect the small and medium industries as their market share may be too small. Or probably it is still too early to see the effect of the Act on them.

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