COVID-19 OUTBREAK: BUSINESSES IN ASIA PACIFIC BATTLE TO MAINTAIN OPERATIONS

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 -- Businesses in the Asia Pacific are struggling to maintain operations amidst the COVID-19 outbreak with almost 50 per cent of them stating they will be forced to restructure business operations to stay afloat if the situation worsens.

This is according to the Tricor Group COVID-19 Business Sentiment and Resilience Barometer Report released recently.

The report also found that one out of two executives agree that their business has been impacted by the current public health situation and are concerned about the future of their business.

Less than one in three executives are confident they have well-equipped crisis management teams capable of handling the situation.

In addition, 43 per cent of the executives agree that COVID-19 has heightened their awareness of business continuity risks and has increased their need for third-party, consulting and outsourcing support.

To achieve business resilience, top priorities for businesses include de-risking and diversifying supply chains; rebalancing market interdependencies; restructuring business operations to reduce costs; and, mitigating operational risk exposures via outsourcing and offshoring.

The Business Barometer Report evaluates how the outbreak is impacting Asia Pacific business sentiment, business continuity planning, operational decision-making, business restructuring and expansion strategies.

This report involves business leaders and finance executives at 1,050 organisations in the region, sampling a cross-section of start-ups, SMEs, MNCs and listed companies in the private sector across 12 major industries.

-- BERNAMA