I attended this presentation quite some time ago last year and blogged about it at the time. But then my site went pear shaped. It is worth putting it up though. Michael Schaper had some interesting facts to discuss. So her is my original blog entry.

Along with Donna Cox of Mantra Training and Development, I attended the Canberra Business Council (CBC) (of which HolisTech® is a Corporate Member) and Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) luncheon. Apart from doing a little networking (not that I am good at that), we listened to an interesting presentation by Dr Michael Schaper, the Deputy Chairperson of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). It was titled Small Business - Future Opportunities & Challenges.

Michael was kind enough to provide me with a copy of the presentation which I have posted here.

In essence he pricked a few myth bubbles about small business in Australia and a little on small business in the ACT.

From a personal perspective, when I started my first company HolisTech® Pty Ltd, there were under one million registered businesses or companies. Now, ten years or so years later, there are over two million. I would be interested to know why, but I would venture to say that when I set up my company there was only a need for one shareholder and office holder. But prior to that two were needed as a minimum. I even remember when were leasing a warehouse for a distribution business we had bought, that the landlord's wanker lawyer gave me all sorts of strife because he thought I was doing something illegal as I was the only office holder of the company...this was 2-3 years after the law had changed - even after I pointed it out he refused to admit he was wrong. I couldn't believe it! I would also say that the tax treatment of single person businesses etc has had an effect and so too the industrial relations regime where an individual can negotiate with an employer on their conditions - if I can do that then why not set up a business/company structure. Perhaps we are just getting more entrepreneurial in Australia as well.

Although you will see it in the attached presentation, here is a summary of a few bits:

• Slide 3. This is a list of why we need a strong small business sector. Small and micro-businesses are good for innovation, competition and provide support to big business. Interesting that he didn't say "support to Government"....perhaps small business supports big business in supporting government! In fact one of the questions from the audience was how governments can make their purchasing choices and processes more sympathetic to small business.
• Slide 6. The pyramid of business size. Big business (200+ staff) only comprises 0.3% of businesses, whilst micro-businesses (0-4 staff) comprise 84.5%. Small firms (5-19 staff) comprise a further 11.3%. Now we are talking about businesses with an active ABN here ...not defunct or "parked" businesses.
• Slide 8 and 9. Michael compares the small business sector in Australia with those in other parts of the world. It is around the same in proportion terms. Two thirds of small firms are home based and most entrepreneurs are over 30 and most are men. About 10% of business owners have more than one enterprise - interesting. That seems pretty high to me but reflects my own experience that as I have become more comfortable with risk, how to manage cash flow and being more entrepreneurial, I commenced other ventures or bought into other businesses. So I guess once you understand and become comfortable with business, you can juggle a few of them (in my case it is a real delicate balance and some of the ventures don't get the attention they need).
• Slide 12. Have a look at this one because it gives the facts about business failure in the small business sector. There are many myths around this ...but they are dispelled (or confirmed perhaps for some) with these facts.
• Part #2. This part is about trade practices and the TPA. One thing I have learnt when dealing with large businesses (less so governments), they have anti-competitive practices in their agreements. For instance, one large multi-national firm that sought us out as sub-contractors had clauses in their contract stating we couldn't do business with their competitors or clients unless we got their permission first!!! When I questioned this and said it was against the TPA, they said "it was our lawyers that had written it up"! So I advised them that for me to comply, I needed a list of all their clients and all their competitors....strangely, they weren't forthcoming and we ended up doing all the work without a written contract actually.

Ultimately, Michael delivered a great message ...small business is very important and the ACCC is there to ensure it gets a fair go ...although this has it limits within the Governmental legislative framework.