How Big Business Performs
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HOW BIG BUSINESS PERFORMS PRIVATE PERFORMANCE AND PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSING THE PROFITS OF AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST ENTERPRISES DRAWING ON THE UNIQUE DATA OF IBIS BUSINESS INFORMATION
Edited by PETER DAWKINS, MICHAEL HARRIS and STEPHEN KING
Allen & Unwin in association with Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research
© Individual authors for their chapters, 1999. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. First published in 1999 by Allen & Unwin 9 Atchison Street, St Leonards NSW 1590 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218 E-mail:
[email protected] Web: http://www.allen-unwin.com.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: How big business performs: private performance and public policy. Includes index. ISBN 1 86448 867 0. 1. Organisational effectiveness — Australia. 2. Corporate profits — Australia. 3. Industrial management — Australia. 4. Corporations — Australia. I. Dawkins, Peter. II. King, Stephen. III. Harris, Michael. IV. Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research Desktop publishing by Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne (Nellie Lentini and Rosy Qin) Printed and bound by SRM Production Services, SDN BHD, Malaysia
Foreword Phillip K. Ruthven Big businesses, employing over 200 persons or with assets over $200 million, number less than 3,000 of Australia's over 1.1 million enterprises or just 0.2%. Yet they account for some 62% of the nation's expected revenue of $1.6 trillion in 1999. This is big business. Further, these enterprises employ around 3.4 million (40%) of the nation's workforce and account for nearly half of Australia's gross domestic product (GDP) of close to $590 billion in the 1999 calendar year. Big business is deserving of close analysis in terms of performance and public policy. This book is a landmark study, with high praise due to the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research for its initiative and the book's many contributors. My own firm is delighted to be associated with its production in terms of providing reference data. Perspective is always useful in an age of increasing specialisation, new and old vested interests, yet in a world that is becoming borderless. While small and medium enterprises are lauded as vital to an economy — which they are in terms of employment (60%) and entrepreneurism — their share of the nation's revenue is less than many would have us believe: small enterprises (
