Shiga Prefecture Enterprise Trends Survey Results Q2 2025 - Special Topic: Capital Investment Plans - FY2025 Capital Investment Plans Show "Implemented/Planned" at Just Over 30%

Overview

This is a survey report published by Shigagin Economic and Cultural Center on "Shiga Prefecture Enterprise Trends Survey Results Q2 2025 - Special Topic: Capital Investment Plans - FY2025 Capital Investment Plans Show 'Implemented/Planned' at Just Over 30%." The report provides detailed analysis of capital investment trends among companies in Shiga Prefecture, revealing the current state of investment appetite and future outlook. ## Key Points ### 1. Survey Overview - **Survey Organization**: Shigagin Economic and Cultural Center - **Survey Period**: May 7-26, 2025 - **Survey Target**: 995 companies headquartered in or operating in Shiga Prefecture - **Valid Responses**: 348 companies (35% response rate) - Manufacturing: 156 companies - Non-manufacturing: 192 companies - **Survey Method**: Mail questionnaire survey ### 2. FY2024 Capital Investment Results - **Implementation Rate**: 74.5% (3 out of 4 companies implemented) - **Implementation Rate by Industry**: - Manufacturing: 77.6% - Non-manufacturing: 72.1% - **Investment Scale**: - Under 10 million yen: 51.9% (most common) - 10-50 million yen: 26.9% - 50-100 million yen: 7.7% - Over 100 million yen: 13.5% - **Characteristics**: High implementation rate indicates robust investment appetite ### 3. FY2025 Capital Investment Plans (Core of Survey) - **Implemented/Planned**: 31.3% (just over 30%) - **Under Consideration**: 21.6% - **No Plans**: 25.3% - **Undecided**: 21.8% - **Analysis**: - Only 30% of companies have confirmed implementation - Including those considering, potential demand exceeds 50% - Wait-and-see attitude remains strong due to uncertainty ### 4. Purpose of Capital Investment (Multiple Responses) - **Equipment Maintenance/Renewal**: 63.9% (top priority) - **Labor-saving/Rationalization**: 30.0% - **IT/DX Promotion**: 27.8% - **Production Increase/Sales Enhancement**: 25.0% - **Decarbonization/Environmental Measures**: 18.9% - **Office/Store Expansion**: 16.7% - **New Business Areas**: 8.9% - **Trend Analysis**: - Defensive investment (maintenance/renewal) dominates - Labor shortage response (labor-saving) is urgent - DX investment steadily penetrating ### 5. Industry-Specific Investment Purpose Characteristics #### Manufacturing Characteristics - **Labor-saving/Rationalization**: 40.4% (significantly higher than non-manufacturing's 22.0%) - **Production Increase/Sales Enhancement**: 30.8% - **Decarbonization/Environmental Measures**: 26.9% - Strong consciousness toward productivity improvement #### Non-manufacturing Characteristics - **Office/Store Expansion**: 28.6% (significantly higher than manufacturing's 1.9%) - **IT/DX Promotion**: 33.0% - Reflects service industry-specific needs ### 6. Funding Methods (Multiple Responses) - **Self-funding**: 78.3% (overwhelming majority) - **Bank Loans**: 41.7% - **Subsidies/Grants**: 31.1% - **Leasing**: 20.0% - **Parent/Group Company Loans**: 3.3% - **Analysis**: - Emphasis on financial soundness - High interest in subsidy utilization - Relatively low loan dependency ### 7. Reasons for Not Implementing Capital Investment (Multiple Responses) - **Equipment at Appropriate Level**: 58.1% - **Uncertain Future Outlook**: 44.2% - **Cannot Secure Returns Matching Investment**: 20.9% - **Labor Shortage Prevents Equipment Utilization**: 17.4% - **Difficult Funding**: 7.0% - **Implications**: - Business environment uncertainty suppresses investment - Human resource constraints are non-negligible factors ### 8. Investment Trends by Company Size - **Correlation Between Employee Size and Implementation Rate**: - 20 or fewer employees: 62.1% - 21-50 employees: 74.1% - 51-100 employees: 79.7% - 101-300 employees: 88.9% - 301+ employees: 100% - **Characteristics**: Larger companies have greater investment capacity ### 9. Future Capital Investment Policy - **Maintain Current Level**: 62.8% (majority) - **Expand Investment**: 16.4% - Manufacturing: 19.0% - Non-manufacturing: 14.4% - **Reduce Investment**: 20.8% - **Outlook**: Cautious yet positive stance ### 10. Summary and Future Outlook This survey demonstrates that while capital investment among Shiga Prefecture companies centers on "defensive" purposes, future-oriented investments such as labor-saving and DX promotion are steadily progressing. The fact that only just over 30% have "implemented/planned" for FY2025 reflects business environment uncertainty, but including those considering reaches over half, suggesting investment could become active if conditions align. Particularly noteworthy are the rise in labor-saving investments as a response to labor shortages and the spread of DX investments. These can be evaluated not merely as cost reduction but as efforts to build sustainable management foundations. Going forward, government investment promotion policies and subsidy system utilization to encourage "considering" companies will be key to regional economic revitalization.