Enquête auprès de nos membres

The survey was organised by the French Chamber of commerce in Sweden, in cooperation with the French Embassy in Sweden. It deals with the economic and financial impact of the coronavirus on member firms and was carried out in November 2020. 50 members settled in Sweden answered the survey anonymously. 

Firms are still impacted

Similar to the first survey, 86% of respondents have seen an impact on their activities. 42% have applied for the government crisis package, with a large majority choosing short-term layoffs and decreasing the work hours by 40% or 60%. Nevertheless, more firms seem to have been positively impacted by the situation than last spring. Although 48% of the respondents have seen a decrease in sales by 20-50%, others have instead seen their sales unchanged or increased (28% compared to 16% last spring). 

Similarly, 28% believe to be in line with their financial forecasts, compared to 16% of the first survey. We also see a slight increase in respondents having better financial results than anticipated (8% against 2% in April). While the coronavirus continues to impact businesses negatively, certain firms have managed to adapt and make it profitable over a longer period of time.

As business growth is stalling

The sanitary crisis has led to internal and external consequences. The main difficulty for respondents is to acquire new businesses and/or customers. Further, 51% have seen their orders being cancelled by clients. Although they may not cancel, some clients delay their payments. Because of this, the workload is lighter and companies decide to hold off on hiring new employees (44%). They are also unable to offer a pay raise to their current employees and must postpone the process.

Overall uncertainty

Over half of the respondents believe that the situation will improve and return back to normal by the end of the first or second quarter of 2021. However, others believe that business activities will not go back to normal before the end of third quarter or even the end of 2021 (32%). 

Questioning the Swedish way

The respondents were also asked about the Swedish liberal approach to the virus. The first survey showed a clear majority believing that the strategy had an economic advantage for businesses (59%). In the latest survey, firms were unsure whether the Swedish strategy against corona was the right one or not. Although slightly inferior than last spring, a high percentage still believes it is the right decision (45%). Others disagree on the strategy chosen by Sweden (17% against 13% last spring). Finally, we see an increase in the third group, where people do not know what to think of the Swedish strategy.

Click here to see the results in PDF