Seville, Mar 12 (EFE).- Andalusian businessmen are optimistic about the evolution of their businesses and employment in 2023, although they have moderated their forecasts compared to the previous year, mainly due to the threat posed by the high rate of inflation.
This is clear from the report “Perspectivas España 2023 Andalucía”, carried out by the KPMG consultancy in collaboration with CEOE, which highlights that 64% of entrepreneurs will increase their sales this year and 44% plan to invest more, more moderate figures than in 2022 (14 and 20 points, respectively).
The percentage of managers who plan to increase their workforce decreases compared to last year, from 46% to 39%, and so does the percentage of those who plan to reduce their teams, which goes from 29% to 13%.
The reasons for this caution in their forecasts are the energy crisis, the escalation of inflation and interest rates.
Nicolás Sierra, the partner in charge of KPMG in Andalusia, stated that “it is a year plagued with uncertainties: inflation, the tightening of fiscal policy and political uncertainty have an impact on the forecasts of Andalusian managers, who are cautious about the evolution of the economy, worsening their forecasts compared to last year”.
However, the prospects for their businesses are more optimistic and 66% consider that their business situation is good or excellent and 43% believe that it will improve in the coming months.
The threat of inflation
The assessment and perspectives on the economy of the region are more positive than those of the country as a whole, as shown by the fact that 48% of the companies consider that the current situation of the Andalusian economy is fair, while 40% believe that the economic situation in your region will improve in the next twelve months.
Andalusian executives will also strengthen their internationalization strategy this year, as stated by 31% of the companies that say they already have a presence in other markets and plan to expand it throughout this year.
In addition, 12% indicate that their organization does not have international activity, but is going to start it this year, and they are committed to increasing their presence in traditional European markets such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States.
The report also reveals the effects of inflation in other areas of corporate management and, thus, 72% of managers say that it has had a high or very high impact on profit margins.
As a result, 85% of those surveyed have rethought their pricing policies to reflect rising costs or plan to do so in the next 12 months, and 74% have renegotiated their supplier contracts or are going to do so over the course of the next 12 months. The exercise.
In fact, for two out of three Andalusian businessmen (64%), inflation is the greatest threat to the Spanish economy in the next three years and they also warn of the risks derived from the cost of energy, the volatility in the prices of raw materials or demand risk.
Digital transformation strategies
In this election year, measures to mitigate inflation are the most common demand from Andalusian businessmen to the central government: 54% of those surveyed mark this option.
In this context, the priority is digitization and 60% of businessmen in the region rank it as strategic in the next twelve months and 54% believe that digital transformation is the main challenge in the next three years.
It can be seen from these results that digitization is the cornerstone of the corporate agendas of Andalusian companies, so that 90% of Andalusian managers have rethought their digital transformation strategy or plan to do so in the next twelve months.
However, technological advances in turn entail risks and threats to the security of companies and their customers, as occurred with the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine.
29% of Andalusian respondents affirm that their company suffered some type of cyberattack in the last twelve months (four percentage points less compared to the national data).
Likewise, professional skills and abilities have become determining factors in responding to the challenges of the business environment to the point that for 45% of managers in Andalusia, attracting and retaining talent is among the strategic priorities for 2023 and the major challenges that they will have to face in the medium term. EFE