Nearly 8 out of 10 businesses in South Korea suffered the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year, a recent survey showed. Of those, 4 out of 10 were operating in emergency mode.

According to a survey of 302 local firms by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 75.8 percent said they had taken a hit from the coronavirus crisis and some 8.3 percent said their survival was threatened.

Only 14.6 percent of the companies responded that the coronavirus had helped their business and 1.3 percent said it had offered them a good opportunity, the survey showed.

Four out of 10 firms that suffered as a result of the coronavirus outbreak were in emergency mode, with 79 percent of those companies saying they had experienced a drop in sales. Also, 71.9 percent said they had slashed labor expenses and 50 percent had suspended business operations.

The companies predicted that business would be back on track in the second half of this year after vaccination gets underway. They expected a more rapid recovery in the oil, home appliances and construction industries starting in the second and third quarters of this year.

The most important factor seen to affect business performance this year was COVID-19 vaccination and immunity (36.4 percent), followed by changes in interest and currency exchange rates (22.2 percent), changes in technology paradigms (16. 9 percent) and domestic policies (16.6 percent.)

The policies the surveyed businesses said they needed most were tax cuts and financial support (64.2 percent), followed by support to maintain employment (15.6 percent), improvements in regulations (10.6 percent) and improvements in border control (6.3 percent.)

Some 72.8 percent of the firms said changes in the business environment accelerated by the pandemic -- such as digitalization and automation -- were likely to continue or even speed up.

Only 27.2 percent of the firms thought the business environment would return to the pre-coronavirus status quo.

To accommodate the post-pandemic changes, 71.8 percent of the conglomerates and medium-sized firms said they were drawing up plans. Some of those plans involved a focus on new projects (26.7 percent), wider monitoring (25 percent) and digitalization of their business operations (19.4 percent).

Among small firms, 52.6 percent said they were preparing for the post-pandemic changes, the survey showed.

“It is important to actively come up with measures to develop new projects and restructure businesses in line with changing times,” said Kang Seok-ku, an industry policy team leader at the KCCI. Incorporating contactless trends into traditional industries, adopting eco-friendly trends and restructuring global supply chains were among the examples Kang cited.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)