An increasing number of South African companies believe that black economic empowerment (BEE) is important to win new business, consultancy Grant Thornton said on Monday.

In its annual international business survey, the group found that 63% of privately held businesses believed BEE was important for winning new business.

This was a 4% increase from the 59% recorded in 2008, Grant Thornton said.

A sector analysis revealed that 71% of the construction industry (69% in 2008), 68% of the services industry (68% in 2008) and 63% of the manufacturing industry (52% in 2008) believed that BEE contributed to the attraction of new business.

However, only 47% of the retail industry shared a similar sentiment (53% in 2008), the survey found.

"Broad-based BEE implementation has largely remained static over the past 24 months as businesses focus on surviving the tough economic conditions.

"The failure to align public sector procurement with BEE codes, gives credence to the view that the largesse of business continues to propel BEE initiatives," said Tony Balshaw, managing partner of Grant Thornton Eastern Cape.

When asked to rate the importance of each element of the BEE scorecard to their business, skills development (48%) and employment equity (39%) ranked the highest.

This was followed by ownership (28%), management (26%), corporate social responsibility (25%), affirmative procurement (22%) and enterprise development (20%).