Wednesday 12th March 2014. Sydney Australia. Businesses are rising to Australia’s productivity challenge and looking to make better use of existing resources as a top strategy for improving productivity, according to a recent survey conducted by the Trans-Tasman Business Circle in partnership with Newport Consulting.
More than 150 business leaders were surveyed over the course of three productivity focused briefings held in 2013 that saw Peter Harris, Chairman-Productivity Commission and Tony Shepherd, AO, President, Business Council of Australia, address Australia’s productivity challenge.
The survey results, published in Australia’s Productivity Imperative report, also found that more than three-quarters of the business leaders surveyed identified that the productivity challenge is best addressed at a macro and micro economic level, acknowledging that both the private and public sector play a vital role.
The findings suggest that Australian businesses acknowledge the productivity challenge at hand, however, Peter Harris, Chairman, Productivity Commission warns of decades of slow growth unless the nation commits to programs of reform similar to those in the 1980s and 1990s.
In his address, Mr Harris, referred to a Productivity Commission study that shows Australia’s prosperity in the past decade has been supported by high terms of trade. Terms of trade are now in decline for the medium term and improvements to Australia’s productivity are now paramount to maintaining the country’s prosperity. “Australia must embrace longterm view of productivity trends, not as a business-as-usual issue, locked in by large capital investments of the past decade. Productivity must become a legitimate long-haul aspiration,” Mr Harris said.
Newport Consulting’s Managing Director David Hand echoes these sentiments and believes that Australians need to act now to avoid complacency. “If ever there was the time for Australian businesses to be flexible, innovative, creative and efficient, it is now in 2014 and beyond”.
“We all play a role in meeting the productivity challenge and we believe it begins with a total rethink by individuals and business leaders and a commitment that the issue is worth the effort.” Hand said.
Newport Consulting and Trans-Tasman Business Circle are both highly committed to championing productivity in a positive light and helping organisations in every sector lift their productivity. Australia’s Productivity Imperative report is a record of the meaningful discussions that took place across three briefings from the period starting June 2013 and ending September 2013. Australia’s Productivity Imperative series is a Trans-Tasman Business Circle initiative in partnership with Newport Consulting.
