A key element to the sustainable performance of an organisation is its ability to consistently improve productivity by “replacing resources used with resources of equal or greater value …” (1). The practices, processes and resources might differ between ecological and business environments, but the economies within which they operate obey transferable system fundamentals. And they both have the same goals – to thrive and flourish in their environment. Recently it has been noted that sustainable business growth was attained by firms able to best leverage their capital. Those businesses able to most effectively use their resources to further the scope, reach, and impact of their products/ services were deemed to exhibit growth more likely to be sustainable. The effective use of resources enabled businesses to understand and respond to changing customer behaviours. Understanding and responding to these behaviours allowed these businesses to form strong relationships with their customers. These relationships are fundamental to long-term, sustainable business growth. Reserve Bank data between 2007 and 2011 shows failure rates of:
- 60% for sole proprietor businesses
- 40% for businesses of 1-4 people
- 35% for businesses of 5-19 people and
- 40% for small businesses employing 20 or more people. (2)
Competitive industry environments and challenging economic and social landscapes contributed to these failure rates. But of greater consequence was the reliance on outdated or poor commercial management skills. Effectively, many businesses that should have survived, and even flourished, didn’t because of their inability to effectively leverage the capital at their disposal. There is no excuse for this. Australia boasts some of the most knowledgeable, effective, and affordable business excellence firms in the world; firms whose sole focus is to identify and exploit this latent capital to create long-term, sustainable business growth.
- Melvin K. Hendrix, ‘Sustainable Backyard Polyculture: Designing for ecological resiliency.’ Smashwords ebook edition. 2014.
- Reserve Bank of Australia, ‘Small Business: An Economic Overview.’ http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/workshops/other/small-bus-fin-roundtable-2012/pdf/01-overview.pdf May, 2012.