China Businesses Are the World's Most Stressed

China Businesses Are the World's Most Stressed

May 29, 2007

    HONG KONG, May 29 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- According to
the latest findings from the Experian(R) Grant Thornton
International Business Report (IBR) 2007, mainland China
businesses are the most stressed in the world.  More than
eight out of ten (84%) mainland China businesses are more
stressed than a year ago. Mainland China is followed by
Taiwan (82%). Among the three territories in the country,
Hong Kong (67%) is the seventh in the global rankings (see
table 1).

    Among the 32 countries/regions who took part in the
survey, two thirds reported a lower increase in stress when
comparing with last year's figure. When comparing the
results of this question this year and last year, the
stress level in mainland China has reduced by 3 percentage
points, while Hong Kong and Taiwan have reduced by 2 points
and 7 points respectively.

    "Although the percentages of stress level
increases in the three places across two shores have
reduced, they are still in the top ten among the 32
surveyed, and well beyond the global average (56%).  This
appears to be a reflection of the pace of growth in these
economies," said Desmond Yuen, partner and head of
China Services at Grant Thornton.

    In comparison, businesses in Europe are the least
stressed, with just 27% of Swedish businesses reporting an
increase in stress levels, followed by Ireland (35%) and
the UK, the Netherlands and France (37%).

    Average Working hours in a week
    The survey also studied business owners' average hours
worked in a week. It shows that mainland China and Hong
Kong business owners both work 54 hours on average a week,
followed by Taiwan with 53 hours a week (see table 2).
Businesses in the BRIC emerging markets tend to work the
longest hours, with India at the top of the league table
(57 hours). The findings revealed that the businesses in
emerging markets are striving to take advantage of domestic
and global economic expansion and thus, they are willing to
work longer hours in order to keep their competitiveness.
    
    "Globalisation and increasing technological
advances have increased the pressure on business owners to
'always be contactable' and this appears to be having an
increasing strain on their lives. The challenge for
business owners is how they can improve modern working
practices to allow time to 'switch off' from the strains of
increasingly demanding business lives - while remaining
competitive. However, business owners should understand
that the management of work life balance and quality of
life is very important too," said Dr. William Thomson,
Experian's global economics director.
 
    Table 1. 
    Stress levels compared to one year ago (% Increased)

                             2007    2006
    1	Mainland China      84      87
    2	Taiwan              82      89
    3	India               79      57
    4	Russia              76      60
    5	Botswana	         70      74
    6	Singapore           69      67
    7	Hong Kong           67      69
    8	Malaysia            64      65
    8	Philippines         64      76
    8	South Africa        64      65
    11	Brazil              62      --
    11	Turkey              62      58
    13	Luxembourg          58      49
    14	Armenia             57      -- 
    14	Thailand            57      62
    16	Greece              55      63
    17	Germany             51      50
    18	Japan               50      60
    19	Mexico              48      58
    20	Argentina           47      48
    20	Italy               47      40
    22	New Zealand         46      46
    23	US                  43      45
    24	Australia           41      48
    24	Spain               41      42
    26	Poland              40      46
    27	Canada              39      48
    28	France              37      42
    28	Netherlands         37      43
    28	UK                  37      43
    31	Ireland             35      46
    32	Sweden              27      24
          Global average       56      57



    Table 2. Average hours worked in a week

    1	India           57
    1	Argentina       57
    3	Armenia         56
    3	Australia       56
    3	Botswana        56
    6	Turkey          55
    6	US              55
    6	South Africa    55
    9	Singapore       54
    9	Hong Kong       54
    9	Mainland China  54
    12	Taiwan          53
    12	New Zealand     53
    14	Poland          52
    14	Canada          52
    14	Greece          52
    14	Germany         52
    18	Mexico          51
    19	Malaysia        50
    19	Brazil          50
    19	Japan           50
    19	Luxemburg	     50
    19	France          50
    24	Philippines     49
    24	UK              49
    24	Russia          49
    27	Spain           48
    27	Ireland         48
    27	Netherlands     48
    27	Thailand        48
    27	Sweden          48
    32	Italy           47
          Global average   53

    Source: Experian Grant Thornton International Business
Report (IBR) 2007

    Notes to editors 

    About the Experian Grant Thornton International
Business Report (IBR) 
Now in its fifth year, the Experian Grant Thornton
International Business Report (IBR) was carried out among
7,200 owners of medium to large privately held businesses
from 32 countries/territories during late 2006. Among them,
300, 250 and 150 medium to large privately held businesses
were surveyed in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
respectively.  IBR began in 2002 and builds on the European
Business Survey (EBS) which Grant Thornton ran from 1993 to
2001.  In 2007, the survey's name was changed from the
International Business Owners Survey (IBOS) to the
International Business Report (IBR). The research was
conducted by Experian Business Strategies Limited and
Harris Interactive. For more information, please visit
http://www.internationalbusinessreport.com .

    About Grant Thornton

    Grant Thornton is one of the leading accounting, tax
and business advisory firms dedicated to serving the needs
of growing companies.  In Hong Kong and mainland China,
Grant Thornton has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou and Shenzhen, employing in excess of 650 people.
Grant Thornton in Hong Kong is a member of Grant Thornton
International - one of the world's leading organisations of
independently owned and managed accounting and consulting
firms providing assurance, tax and specialist advice to
independent businesses and their owners. Firms operate in
110 countries in 520 offices with more than 22,600
employees.  For more information, please visit
http://www.gthk.com.hk .

    About Experian

    Experian provides an unrivalled understanding of
consumers, markets and economies in the UK and around the
world, past, present and future. Experian is a global
leader in providing analytical and information services to
organisations and consumers to help manage the risk and
reward of commercial and financial decisions.  It is also a
market leader in consumer profiling and market segmentation,
economic forecasting and public policy research, supporting
businesses, policy makers and investors in making tactical
and strategic decisions. Experian's economic forecasting
arm, Business Strategies, has operations in 16 countries:
UK, France, Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Finland and
Hong Kong - China, Germany, Czech Republic, Ireland, Greece,
USA, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.  For more information
about Experian go to http://www.experian.com.hk .


    For further information, please contact:

    Grant Thornton

    Desmond Yuen (Partner and head of China services)
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    Estella Tsui (Senior marketing manager)              
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    Experian

     Dr William Thomson (Global economic director)
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    Bruno Rost (International PR manager)
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