China's mid-sized enterprises are less confident about their revenue growth than their global peers, EY found in a survey yesterday.
The EY Growth Barometer found that only 1 percent of Chinese respondents said they expected their revenue growth to exceed 16 percent next year, compared with 15 percent for the rest of the world.
It found 8 percent of Chinese respondents expected revenue to decline, compared with 5 percent globally.
Overall, 63 percent of Chinese respondents expected a growth of over 5 percent in revenue, close to the global level of 64 percent.
The survey covers 2,340 companies from 30 countries and regions with annual revenue between $10 million and $3 billion as well as a number of rapidly-growing companies under five years old.
Chinese respondents chose changes in the structure of population and working patterns as the top disruptive factors to business models, while increasing competition, geo-political instability, and the cost of credit are also cited as top challenges to growth plans, the survey said.
The top priorities of Chinese respondents include geographic expansion, mergers and acquisitions, and launch of new products and services.
"We see Chinese middle market business leaders underpin their confidence with strategies to expand into new geographies and industries," said Terence Ho, EY's Growth Markets Leader for China's mainland.
