McKenzie & Assoc. survey shows optimism among Puerto Rico business leaders
In mid-2021, McKenzie & Associates surveyed hundreds of C-suite level Puerto Rican business leaders for its “2022 Puerto Rico Market Sentiment Report,” confirming mostly optimism for their operations this year.
A sample of 135 leaders grouped into nine industry classifications provided responses to the survey. Of those 123, or 91%, believe their sales will grow in 2022, while 122 respondents, or 90%, believe their industry will grow in 2022 as well.
“Sales growth expectations are supported by net working capital trends. In aggregate, respondents expect inventories to increase (generally an indication of future sales increases), do not forecast customer payment problems, and will not seek more lenient payment terms for themselves in 2022,” according to the study.
The sample included representation from: Consumer discretionary and hospitality; healthcare and life sciences; education, nonprofit and other; industrials, construction & manufacturing; energy; professional and business services; environmental and agriculture; technology, IT and media; and financial and insurance services.
“This report is a window into the expectations of Puerto Rican business leaders,” according to the summary of the report. “Decision makers will find this report helpful for evaluating their business practices.”
Among the report’s key findings is that growth expectations are not evenly distributed among the nine industries included.
“While overall sentiments are generally bullish, leaders in the following four industries were particularly optimistic: Consumer discretionary and hospitality, financial and insurance services, healthcare and life sciences and industrials, construction and manufacturing,” McKenzie & Associates confirmed.
Meanwhile, the study also concluded that matters like sales growth, business expansion, net hiring, and working capital individually provide insight into growth expectations for 2022.
“When understood collectively, however, a compelling picture emerges. It is not merely that leaders say their sales will increase; respondents revealed their bullish outlook through multiple data points,” it noted.
On the flip side, the survey also confirmed that local business leaders know that succession planning is an area of organizational weakness, there is an absence of succession planning, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises.
The survey confirmed that 55% of respondents do not have succession plans in place, which “exposes businesses and employees to the potentially catastrophic impacts of business disruption.”
An area that will likely experience turbulence this year is the energy sector, because “in contrast to strong sentiments across the market, leaders in the energy sector believe 2022 will be a challenging year. Half of those surveyed believe their company’s revenues will decline by 10% or more in 2022.”
