- Statistics
- Quarterly Survey of Japanese Business Activities
- Quarterly Survey of Japanese Business Activities (October-December 1997)
Quarterly Survey of Overseas Subsidiaries
Quarterly Survey of Japanese Business Activities (October-December 1997)
April 1998
Enterprise Statistics Division of Research and Statistics Department
Ministry of International Trade and Industry
Highlights in the Current Survey:
- The major business trends in the third quarter from October to December of the fiscal year 1997 among Japanese incorporated enterprises targeted in the current survey as respondents of domestically-based parent companies and locally-based overseas subsidiaries (Definition of the Japanese manufacturers, regarding the ownership of overseas subsidiaries through capital investment) were as follows:
- Turnover Inside/Outside Japan and Domestic Sales/Local Sales Overseas
The sales turnover of head office companies in Japan shows a 4.4% decrease in domestic sales compared to the same quarter in the previous year. But this has been improved to a decrease of only 0.4% thanks to increased exports. The sales turnover of overseas local corporations, on the other hand, though decreasing in the ASEAN 4 countries, increased in all other regions, with an increase of 8.1% overall.
Viewing the prospects for sales turnover in the first quarter of 1998 in terms of a DI comparison with the previous quarter (*1), the proportion of head office companies that forecast an increase has fallen greatly (from +13.2 to -2.6), going into the negative for the first time since we started these surveys. Although overseas local corporations remain positive in the first quarter of 1998, the proportion of local corporations that forecast an increase has also fallen greatly (from 35.9 to 26.5).
In terms of individual regions, North America, where the situation is reportedly healthy, remains on a par at 42.5. But in all other regions, the proportion of local corporations that forecast an increase has fallen. Similar trends are also seen in exports to Japan and local sales.
- Equipment Investments
- Domestic and Overseas Employment
- Trade Transactions
- Status of Overseas Subsidiaries by region
- Statistic
- (1) Statistical Tables related to Parent Companies
- (2) Statistical Tables related to overseas subsidiaries
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(3) DI Indices related to Next Quarter Outlook
- Parent Companies
- Overseas Subsidiaries
- Europe
- Other
Equipment investments (the acquisition value of tangible fixed assets other than land) by head office companies increased 2.8% from the same quarter of the previous year, thanks partly to an increase in electrical machinery. But compared to the previous quarter this has fallen greatly (-14.7%).
Equipment investments by overseas local corporations, on the other hand, have increased in regions other than Asia (mainly in North America), increasing 32.4% from the same quarter of the previous year.
Viewing the prospects for equipment investments in the first quarter of 1998 in terms of a DI comparison with the previous quarter, the proportion of head office companies that forecast an increase has fallen (from 6.2 to 4.0). Overseas local corporations have also decreased somewhat (from 17.1 to 15.4). In terms of different regions, the scale of the decrease is particularly large in China and other Asian countries (-7.6).
Meanwhile, direct overseas investments by head office companies in this quarter decreased greatly from the same quarter of the previous year (-38.4%).
E-Mail:qqcebh@meti.go.jp