BUSINESS PERFORMANCE AND BARRIERS


Changes in business performance and activities

Businesses were asked to assess whether various performance indicators and activities had decreased, stayed the same, or increased compared to the previous year.

Changes in business performance and activities, compared to the previous year(a)(b)(c), 2014-15
		Decreased	Stayed the same	Increased	Not applicable
		%	%	%	%
Performance indicators and activities
	Income from sales of goods or services	31.4	21.5	36.3	10.7
	Profitability	32.4	29.8	27.6	10.2
	Productivity	16.1	44.0	22.7	17.2
	Total number of jobs or positions	14.6	56.6	14.0	14.7
	Range of products or services offered	7.0	61.3	15.2	16.5
	Export markets targeted	1.1	9.5	1.5	87.8
	Contracting out work/activities or outsourcing	5.5	21.0	7.9	65.6
	Structured/formal training for employees(d)	4.2	37.4	7.9	50.4
	Expenditure on Information Technology (IT)	5.3	38.9	16.3	39.5
	Social contributions(e)	4.7	36.5	7.5	51.3
(a) Proportions are of all businesses in each output category.
(b) Businesses were asked to indicate if there had been a change in any of the items listed compared to the previous year. No attempt was made to cross check this self-assessment with other information.
(c) The sum of the component items for each measure may not equal 100% due to rounding and/or provision of multiple responses. Refer to Explanatory Note 28 and the Quality Declaration.
(d) Includes attendance at training, workshops and seminars.
(e) Includes specific community enhancement projects, charity contributions or support.

Almost a third (32%) of businesses reported a decrease in profitability compared to the previous year, while over a quarter of businesses reported an increase (28%). An increase in income from sales of goods or services compared to the previous year was reported by 36% of businesses, which is more than the proportion of businesses that reported a decrease (31%).

An increase in income from sales of goods or services was reported by 62% of businesses with 200 or more persons employed, which is twice the proportion of businesses with 0-4 persons employed (31%). More than half of businesses with 200 or more persons employed reported an increase in profitability (51%).

Transport, postal and warehousing was the only industry where a higher proportion of businesses reported a decrease in productivity (14%) and range of goods or services offered (8%) than an increase (13% and 7% respectively).


In 2014-15, for each of the performance indicators provided, a higher proportion of innovation-active businesses reported an increase in at least one indicator or activity from the previous year than non innovation-active businesses. For example, the proportion of innovation-active businesses that reported an increase in range of products and services offered (26%) was more than four times the proportion of non innovation-active businesses (6%).

Further statistics relating to change in business performance can be accessed via the Downloads tab.


Barriers to general business activities

Businesses were asked if any factors significantly hampered them in their general business activities or performance during the year ended 30 June 2015.

It should be noted that businesses were not provided with a definition of what constituted a significant level of hampering and were not asked to rank barriers in order of significance.

Barriers to general business activities or performance, by employment size(a)(b), 2014-15
		0-4 persons	5-19 persons	20-199 persons	200 or more persons	Total
		%	%	%	%	%
Lack of access to additional funds		14.9	18.5	15.4	10.2	16.1
Cost of inputs		11.7	15.5	17.6	14.5	13.4
Outstanding accounts receivable limiting cash flow		11.5	14.6	11.6	6.6	12.4
Lack of skilled persons:
	within the business	7.7	10.1	11.1	6.5	8.7
	within the labour market	6.7	14.7	16.5	8.6	10.0
	in any location(c)	12.2	20.2	21.3	10.6	15.4
Government regulations or compliance		11.0	13.1	11.8	10.1	11.7
Lack of customer demand for goods or services		13.5	13.3	14.5	15.5	13.5
Lower profit margins to remain competitive		18.6	26.8	27.0	25.2	21.8
Environmental factors(d)		3.6	5.9	2.8	2.1	4.3
(a) Proportions are of all businesses in each output category.
(b) Businesses could identify more than one barrier and were not asked to rank barriers in order of significance.
(c) Includes businesses that reported lack of skilled persons within the business and/or within the labour market.
(d) Examples of environmental factors include natural disasters, compliance with water restrictions.

The most common barrier that hampered general business activities or performance was lower profit margins to remain competitive (22%).

The Agriculture, forestry and fishing industry had the highest proportion of businesses that reported environmental factors (37%) and cost of inputs (36%) as barriers, while the Retail trade industry had the highest proportion of businesses that reported lower profit margins to remain competitive (35%) as a barrier.

Further statistics relating to barriers to general business activities can be accessed via the Downloads tab.