Austria ranks 9th among 21 industrial nations in the “Family Business Country Index”.
Federal Minister Margarete Schramböck is responsible for questions relating to the business location.
According to a study, Austria as a location has become somewhat more attractive in an international comparison. Of the 21 industrial nations examined, Austria has climbed one place to 9th place compared to 2018.
The USA is in first place in this year's “Country Index for Family Businesses”. It is followed by Great Britain and the Netherlands, as the Family Business Foundation announced on Monday as the client of the study.
Germany has slipped three places to 17th place compared to 2018. France, Spain, Japan and Italy do even worse. ZEW includes many factors in the study: taxes, labor costs, productivity, human capital, regulation, financing, infrastructure and institutions as well as energy. The client is the Family Business Foundation.
Austria scores particularly well in terms of taxes (6th place), financing (8th), infrastructure and institutions (9th) and regulation (7th place). In terms of labor costs, productivity and human capital, Austria only ranks 15th out of 21. Austria also only ranks 13th in the sub-area of energy.
USA at the top
The top position in the overall ranking for the USA is mainly due to the tax reform that came into force in 2018. With it, corporate tax rates at the federal level were radically reduced from 35 to 21 percent. Great Britain is still in second place, but has lost a lot of momentum due to Brexit. “No other country has suffered such a severe drop in points.” This can be seen above all when evaluating the infrastructure. On the other hand, there are very good assessments of labor costs, productivity and bureaucracy.
According to the authors of the study, the general conditions for family businesses have developed well over the past decade and a half in three European countries and the USA: The Netherlands has moved up seven places since 2006, Poland made up six places, the Czech Republic and the USA four each.
