Australian venture capital firm, OneVentures, recently officially launched its new OneVentures Innovation and Growth Fund II. This new fund aims to raise a total of $100 million from institutional investors and high net worth individuals over the next 12 months. The fund will invest in a portfolio of emerging Australian companies with ambitions of going…
Among developed countries, Australia’s rate of entrepreneurship is second only to the United States, with 10.5% of the population engaged in some form of entrepreneurial activity. In terms of gender inclusiveness, too, it is second only behind the world’s richest country. But at 8.4% women entrepreneurs, the number is down from 2010 levels.
The Global Financial Crisis, from its early roots in 2008, has been a tumultuous period to endure – as the name suggests. Australian companies have been faced with global contagion that’s influenced our market through European economic bailouts, soaring unemployment rates, and a fall in export sales caused by a high Australian dollar. Many CEOs are worried investors won’t inject money into their company while the world is stuck in what appears to be a sustained bear market period. The same CEOs seem to think it’s better to keep a low profile; playing it safe rather than trying engage with potential investors.
While Australians have come to expect a casual approach to service, visitors aren’t so forgiving. “Having recently been in the USA, the standard of customer service there is great, staff actually want to help you,” says Australian marketing manager Jessica Hannant. “Here the sales assistant doesn’t get off the phone to her friend to even serve you at the checkout.” Are things here getting worse?
If you are a director when your company is found to be trading while insolvent, then you face penalties of up to $220,000 and/or 5 years’ imprisonment! And that’s even if you didn’t know about it, because Australian law says that as a director, you should have known. Crikey! Fair suck of the sauce bottle! (And insert other intentionally overt Aussie slang tirade here.)
It seems like only yesterday that Bob Hawke and Paul Keating floated the dollar. Australia, the so-called lucky country, made its own luck as our leaders opened up our economy to Asia and the emerging world. Back then, baby boomers began taking their business out of ‘Fortress Australia’; trying their luck on the world stage, often in new lands that weren’t as affluent or familiar as they are today.
Everyone’s aware that obtaining capital is a tougher task now than it was before the 2008 global financial meltdown. While there are constant murmurs about the markets bouncing back and lines of credit being freed up, those at the coalface will vouch that it remains tricky out there.
A new report by analysts Dun & Bradstreet has found a 23% increase in business failure in 2010. The relative strength of the Australian economy was no match for rising costs and delayed payments, with many businesses folding despite Australia’s success weathering the global financial crisis, in comparison to other nations.
Although market confidence jumped towards the end of 2010, the September quarter revealed business values holding steady, according to the latest survey from the BizExchange Index, which measures private business value. The group expects the Australian economy to stay relatively flat for the next 6-12 months, continuing its general forecast.
Australian companies continue to increase their investment in research and development, but the growth rate has dropped dramatically, according to figures from the national Bureau of Statistics. This coincides with amendments to the Governments R&D tax credit bill.
The value of Australia’s private businesses are stuck in neutral as the global economy continue to grind its gears, according to a quarterly study.
Reforming the board’s composition proved to be essential for the turnarounds at Credit Suisse and UBS. But in both cases it took a severe crisis to provoke the reform. Will other companies learn to reform their boards before they are hit by a crisis? Or will the old maxim continue to apply: no change without a crisis? Paul Strebel proposes five requirements to encourage healthy corporate governance.
In this podcast, RMIT professor Kosmas Smyrnios discusses the changing face of the Australian family business. He observes the difficulties business owners are facing and the reasons why younger generations are less inclined to inherit their parents’ firms.
Corporate remnants of the global financial crisis are back. According to new research by Vera Advantage Bureau, “phoenix companies” are on the rise. These companies have come back in the guise of new entities and are hiding their bad credit history by starting over on a clean slate. According to the report, the news has spooked many business owners.
The United Arab Emirates built the obscenely ostentatious Dubai with oil money that its leaders realised was running out. Now that the hard times have hit, Abu Dhabi is placing its chips on sustainability.
It was widely predicted that 2009 was going to be the year that hit the first world economies the hardest when it came to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). And for many it did just that. Australia, however, managed to weather the worst of it. Tim Harcourt reports on Australia’s strong export industry and showcases some shining examples of Australian exporters growing in these turbulent times.
According to the latest rankings released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, China is again our number one trading partner. But it raises the question: Do we have too many eggs in the China basket?
It is generally thought that a soaring Aussie dollar is terrible for exporters. However, as Austrade’s Chief Economist Tim Harcourt reveals, there are two sides to every coin.
It looks like this recession-that-wasn’t-actually-a-recession is coming to an end. As a business owner, you are right to be proud to have survived a frightening 18 months, when so many others have gone to the wall. But beware. It is not a given that survival in the downturn will equate to success and riches in the upturn. Indeed, there is a strong risk that recession conditions have deceived you about the general health of your organisation.
This is the greatest time in history and a large portion of the business world seems to be off somewhere missing it, with their heads in the sand. Stop it. Get on board, embrace the economic climate and celebrate the opportunities around you!
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