Relocating to France “is still not on the agenda” for 9 out of 10 French bosses

Bad news for the French entrepreneurial sector. Almost all bosses do not consider relocating their activity. 90% of them assure that “this is not on the agenda”, according to the third edition of the sovereignty barometer produced by OpinionWay for the purchasing consultancy company, By.O. Group, revealed by Les Echos.

Of the 506 managers interviewed between October 9 and November 3, almost one in two large group bosses judged not to be “sovereign”. A figure up 5 points compared to 2022 and 9 points compared to 2021. It is in the industrial sector that this “renewed dependence on foreign countries is strongest”, detail our colleagues. “Sovereignty remains an illusion for large companies,” says Marc Debets, president of By.O. Group.

In a context of wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, supply by suppliers located abroad is a brake on growth for all the managers surveyed, while they were only 37% in 2022 Added to this is the energy crisis which is still weighing on business costs: 7 out of 10 managers believe that it will continue to increase their expenses and/or affect their capacity to ensure their production this year.

If the managers of large groups are not considering relocating their activity in France, they are however more open than a year ago to repatriating their activity to Europe. A little more than a quarter of them (28%) want to return to the Old Continent, compared to 3% in 2022 and 43% are considering a project (compared to 15% last year). “Price competitiveness remains the main obstacle. Large companies that relocate are looking for low labor costs,” emphasizes Marc Debets. Europe therefore appears to be an in-between solution for these companies and allows, in part, to get closer to France.